Scotland lost 1,146 people to drug abuse in 2025. Yet the country may be about to expand drug consumption rooms, a strategy critics say is making the crisis worse, not better.

Edinburgh is now edging towards opening its own facility. It follows Glasgow, which launched Scotland’s first safer drug consumption facility less than two years ago. The city’s Health and Social Care Partnership has opened a public consultation. Residents have until 1 July to share their views.

It is a move already dividing opinion sharply. The early evidence from Glasgow does little to settle the argument.

Drug Consumption Rooms: What the Numbers Show

Scotland recorded 1,146 drug deaths in 2025. That is an eight per cent rise on the previous year. Glasgow, which has had a drug consumption room running for a full year, still recorded the highest number of deaths in the country. 243 people died there from drugs in that period alone.

Those figures will not reassure the sceptics. And there is more. Data released recently shows that crime near Glasgow’s Thistle Centre has doubled since it opened. Local businesses report groups of users gathering outside. People have been found overdosing on surrounding streets. The community is clearly feeling the impact.

Supporters of the model argue that rising crime near a new facility does not alone prove failure. Teething troubles are to be expected, they say. But the broader evidence raises harder questions.

A Contested Record Abroad

The UK is far from the first place to try this approach. Drug consumption rooms have been operating in North America for years. The results have not been encouraging.

In San Francisco, Portland and Toronto, overdose deaths continued to climb after safer drug consumption facilities opened. Property crime near those sites surged. Drug dealers moved in around the facilities. Police found themselves largely powerless.

Ontario Premier Doug Ford called the scheme a “failed experiment” last month. He said these rooms trap people in addiction and make communities unsafe. His government has ended its funding for drug consumption rooms. That money is now going into treatment and recovery programmes instead.

It is a distinction that goes to the heart of the debate. Harm reduction or recovery?

The Recovery Case Against Drug Consumption Rooms

Annemarie Ward, chief executive of Favour UK, is one of Scotland’s leading voices on addiction. She has argued consistently that the evidence for drug consumption rooms simply does not stack up. People trapped in addiction need real treatment, she says. Not a safer place to keep using.

The Scottish Government has broadly backed a harm reduction approach. This includes prescribing methadone and opening drug consumption rooms. Critics say this model manages addiction rather than ending it. It keeps people dependent rather than helping them rebuild their lives.

Ward’s view reflects a growing body of opinion. Scotland, some argue, has put too much faith in approaches that make drug use more manageable without making recovery more likely.

What Is Actually at Stake

Behind every statistic is a person. A son or daughter, a parent, a friend. Drug addiction does not stay contained within one life. It moves through families, fractures relationships and takes a heavy toll on communities.

The case for drug consumption rooms rests on a single idea. Keep people alive long enough to reach treatment. That is not an unreasonable goal. But the evidence from Scotland and abroad raises a harder question. Are these facilities a bridge to recovery? Or are they simply making it easier to stay stuck?

With Edinburgh now consulting on a safer drug consumption facility, that question deserves an honest, evidence-led answer.

Recovery, not just survival, has to be the goal.

Source: dbrecoveryresources