Scotland’s Lord Advocate will not prosecute users of a pilot drug consumption room in Glasgow, seen by campaigners as “life saving”.
Lord Advocate Dorothy Bain KC announced on Monday that she believed it would “not be in the public interest to prosecute drug users for simple possession offences committed within a pilot safer drugs consumption facility”.
Last year, it was revealed that an official drug consumption room could open in Scotland’s biggest city after consultation was launched on a bill.
The legal bid was brought forward by campaigners who say such facilities, also known as overdose prevention centres, could save both lives and money.
In a statement on Monday, Bain said: “On the basis of the information I have been provided, I would be prepared to publish a prosecution policy that it would not be in the public interest to prosecute drug users for simple possession offences committed within a pilot safer drugs consumption facility.
“I have not been asked to sign-off or approve any facility and it would not be appropriate for me to do so. However, prosecution policy is for me alone to set and this policy, and the consequences which flow from it, have been considered deeply and thoroughly.”
She added that the policy would not extend to “any criminal offences other than possession of controlled substances” and it “does not amount to an exclusion zone whereby a range of criminality is tolerated”.
She continued: “Police Scotland have operational independence and it has been of the utmost importance to me to ensure that Police Scotland retain the ability to effectively police the facility and ensure that the wider community, those operating the site and those using the facility can be kept safe.”
The policy will allow prosecutors to make an offer of a referral to local authorities as an alternative to criminal prosecution.
The decision was reached after KC Bain was “content that the proposed facility could provide a mechanism for support services to engage with some of the most vulnerable people in society”.
The news comes after Glasgow City Council became the first local authority to formally back to decriminalisation of drug consumption last week.
The city is understood to be the first major UK local authority to announce it is in favour of a change in the law and could have a major role in addressing the drugs death crisis.
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