Councillors clash over Edinburgh drug consumption room proposals

Concerns have been raised by councillors as the city’s government formally agreed on an opinion on a safer drug consumption room.

Efforts have been under way for several years to set up such a site in Edinburgh, where users of various drugs can consume them under medical supervision.

A draft response, supporting a consumption room in the Old Town, was assembled by council officers and approved by councillors at Thursday’s full council meeting.

But the council’s conservative group said the council should submit a response casting doubt on the efficacy of SDCRs.

Referencing a similar consumption room on trial in Glasgow, Conservative group leader and councillor Iain Whyte said: “I don’t know what the pilot will come up with. But I will be surprised if it comes up with what proponents of these facilities claim.

“The key thing here is that the Thistle was set up as a pilot project. Pilot projects are meant to test the concept.

“You have to complete the pilot before you go rolling the thing out elsewhere.”

Results are expected after the clinic’s trial period ends in early 2028.

He also referenced locations that had stepped back, or eliminated, use of SDCRs, including in Portugal, the northwestern US and Vancouver.

Conservative councillor Phil Doggart said the focus should be on rehabilitation, which he said was ‘spectacularly absent’ in Scotland.

Most councillors backed the draft response, which passed 45 to 10.

Labour councillor Mandy Watt said: “We must find a legal, and appropriate, way to stop needless deaths in this city. It’s imperative that we do that.

“We have to find a way to work with the legal system and with our communities who may be asked to have one of these facilities.

“How can we make this safe, how can we reassure people that what we’re trying to do is helping, and just stop people dying?

“This could be the first step for them rebuilding productive, constructive lives. We really need to find a way to get this right.”

SNP councillor Finlay McFarlane said: “The process itself is long, the outcome is not predetermined.

“For me we as a chamber have a moral duty to not look upon the human misery we all pass on the streets as we approach this building and not be exploring absolutely every option that is available.”

At one point in the debate, Conservative councillor Max Mitchell described going to the Thistle clinic in Glasgow.

He listed a number of statistics, including that 93 overdoses had taken place at the site, with some who overdosed needing to be taken to A&E.

One Liberal Democrat councillor asked him how many deaths had taken place at the clinic, and invited him to respond, though Cllr Mitchell did not.

The clinic has been running for about a year and a half. As of January this year, it had recorded over 11,000 visits, with no deaths.

A public consultation on a possible consumption room is being undertaken by the Edinburgh Health and Social Care Partnership, and is set to close on July 1.