SCOTLAND’s top law officer appears to have opened the door to new plans for the introduction of drug consumption rooms, which SNP ministers are said to be “actively exploring”.
Dorothy Bain QC, who was appointed Lord Advocate earlier this year, said “the question of what is in the public interest” could be looked at again.
Glasgow City Health and Social Care Partnership (HSCP) asked James Wolffe QC, Bain’s predecessor as Lord Advocate, such facilities four years ago.
They allow users to take substances such as heroin under medical supervision and with access to clean equipment and support, and proponents say they could help tackle Scotland's appalling death rate from drugs.
There were 1339 drug deaths in Scotland last year, a new record and the highest rate of any country in Europe.
The HSCP wanted assurances that the health board, council, staff and partner organisations would not face prosecution the rooms were set up, but Wolffe said it was not possible to accede to such a request.
Bain, in evidence to Holyrood's Criminal Justice Committee, said it was “important to see the distinction between what James Wolffe was asked and what could be asked”.
“So the question of what is in the public interest would be something that could be looked at again,” she said.
“But it would have to be looked at again in very careful circumstances, where a very detailed set of proposals are brought and we're confident that they are based on sound evidence.”
Bain said a “precise, detailed, specific” proposal “underpinned by evidence” and which had support “would require a fresh consideration by me as Lord Advocate” and referenced the “undoubted crisis that we face” over the number of drugs deaths.
MSP Claire Baker, from Scottish Labour, asked Deputy First Minister John Swinney about the comments in Holyrood.
He was standing in for the First Minister, who is at COP26, and told Baker: “The Lord Advocate's statement confirms a new opportunity for new proposals to be considered regarding safer drug consumption facilities.
“We've been clear on the benefits that safer drug consumption facilities would bring to reducing drug-related deaths in Scotland, and we are actively exploring how we can overcome the existing legal barriers that will allow us to progress the use of these facilities.”
Swinney said the Scottish Government saw drug abuse as a “public health issue”.
Baker said she wanted assurances that the Scottish Government proposal would be “robust” and asked how long it would take for a new scheme to be brought forward.
Swinney said the Government “is taking forward active discussions to establish what could be an acceptable route to enable the appropriate use of drug consumption rooms as part of the public health strategy to tackle the drugs problems that we face in Scottish society”.
He said it involved involves “a great deal of dialogue” with Police Scotland, NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde and the Crown Office, amongst others.
Swinney added: “That work is under way. As for a timescale, if Claire Baker will forgive me, I can't give a definitive timescale today.
“But I do assure her that that is being actively pursued as a consequence of the remarks made by the Lord Advocate.”
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