Drug consumption rooms hit the headlines this month after Scotland’s top prosecutor green-lit their trial in Glasgow.
But will these safe spaces for addicts to inject or take illegal drugs such as heroin show up in the north and north-east?
We spoke to Fraser Hoggan, the chief executive of Alcohol & Drugs Action (ADA), an Aberdeen-based charity that deals with drug addiction in the city and Aberdeenshire.
He told us:
- What council plans are for drug consumption rooms
- Why we need to “think outside the box” to deal with high levels of drug deaths
ADA works with the health bodies in Aberdeen City and Aberdeenshire councils, and Fraser told the Press and Journal there are no plans to set up own drug consumption rooms in those areas.
The reason, explains Fraser, is that drug addiction issues here are different to Glasgow.
“Glasgow is in a unique position, they need to pilot something,” he says, explaining that Scotland’s biggest city has high levels of outdoor injecting, far more than in the north and north-east of Scotland.
‘The situation is already bad’
However, Fraser says everyone working with drug addiction will be closely watching the Glasgow pilot.
If it works, momentum to bring drug consumption rooms to cities such as Aberdeen and Inverness could grow.
“We’re in a bit of a crisis anyway, so maybe we need to think outside the box, do things a little bit differently, and see where that takes us,” he says. “All eyes will be on Glasgow.
“If we start to see, interesting outcomes, positive outcomes then I think areas such as Aberdeen, Dundee and Inverness may be sitting up and paying attention to that.”
Fraser adds: “The situation [in the north and north-east] is already bad.”
“Drug related deaths over the past 10 to 15 years have come down but they are ridiculously high.”
The worst death rate in Europe
The number of people in Scotland who died due to drug misuse fell by 279 to 1,051 in 2022 — the lowest level for five years.
But Scotland still has the worst death rate in the UK and anywhere in Europe.
Numbers in the north and north-east are also high, though have fallen recently. Some 42 deaths were linked to illicit substances in Aberdeen in 2022, down from a decade-long high of 62 the previous year.
A decrease was also recorded in Aberdeenshire, where the number of deaths fell by seven to 24 throughout the year. In Moray, the number of deaths linked to drugs fell from 17 in 2021 to nine.
Fraser says because drug consumption rooms have been shown to work in other countries, it would be odd not to consider them here.
“Drug use is already happening across our communities and cities, and in rural areas.
“We see these figures every year, and still more than 1,000 people died in Scotland in the last year — we need to do something different.”
He continues: “[Drug consumption rooms are] not about providing opiate substances, it’s more about trying to bring people to a point.
“And to prevent some of the harms and ultimately deaths that are happening.”
A spokesperson for Aberdeen City Health and Social Care Partnership, which oversees drug programmes in the city, said it has “no current proposals for drug consumption rooms”.
The spokesperson added: “The outcome of a Glasgow pilot scheme, if it were to go ahead, would help inform any such development locally.
“We would look to adapt any learning from the pilot to meet the needs of people in Aberdeen.”
