"SHOOTING galleries", where heroin addicts can inject in a safe environment, should be set up across Scotland to deal with increases drug use, a Holyrood think tank has advised.
The use of drug consumption rooms (DCRs) is advocated in a report, published today by Scotland's Futures Forum.
Authors of the report are calling for a major shift in government policy, warning that Scotland's war on drugs and alcohol will be lost
unless a radical new approach to law enforcement and community treatment is adopted.
The report, seen by The Scotsman, challenges current drug strategies, which target the lion's share of resources on the police and criminal justice system, rather than education and drug prevention. Tom Wood, vice-chair of the SFF's project, and one of the country's leading drug experts, said there was worldwide evidence suggesting DCRs can be part of the solution.
"In Scotland, we have to face the fact that we have the highest drug death rate in Europe. We have one of the highest rates of Hepatitis C from needle sharing.
"DCRs keep people in contact because there is the public health issue – blood-borne viruses like Aids and Hepatitis.
"It is not just a gang hut for drug addicts to attend at their convenience."
There are about 60 DCRs in eight countries around the world, including Australia, Canada and Switzerland and they are currently being piloted in England.
Some of Scotland's most senior police officers agreed that DCRs could be an option, according to the SFF report.
"While it was acknowledged that there was currently considerable public concern, and possible political avoidance, many accepted that DCRs had been effective in other countries, particularly where they addressed public injecting and reduced public nuisance," according to the report.
The full article contains 299 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
