ADDICTS will be barred from puffing crack cocaine in Scotland’s pilot drugs fix room – due to the smoking ban.
The facility – the first of its kind in the UK – is set to open on the edge of Glasgow city centre after a landmark decision by top prosecutor the Lord Advocate not to pursue users.
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Those visiting the new fix room will be allowed to inject their own illegal substances – including heroin and cocaine.
But the Scottish Government’s Drugs Minister confirmed that puffing crack cocaine would be ruled out partly due to the smoking ban legislation, which prohibits lighting up in indoor public spaces.
She also took a swipe at Westminster laws by saying smoking substances would not be allowed “as it stands” due to complications arising from the UK-wide Misuse of Drugs Act.
It had previously emerged that a proposal had been made for the facility to allow the smoking of illegal substances.
And during a Holyrood committee meeting this week, Scottish Tory shadow justice secretary Russell Findlay asked Drugs and Alcohol Policy Minister Elena Whitham whether smoking drugs was off the cards due to the ban on smoking in indoor public places.
Mr Findlay also suggested that if it was allowed, it could “raise potential questions around staff safety” – given crack cocaine is notorious for sparking aggression.
Ms Whitham said: “The smoking ban does play a part, in terms of smoking indoors.”
She said the Misuse of Drugs Act was also a factor, given its provisions on smokable substances. And she said: “I think that shows how outdated that might be.”
Ms Whitham added: “We know that there’s going to be a challenge in terms of how that facility could operate because there are more and more people that are using crack cocaine that are going to be freebasing that.
“It’s not going to be able to be used within the facility, as it stands. But we also know that there’s a lot of people who are injecting cocaine, so people who are injecting cocaine would be able to do that within the facility.”
Susanne Millar, chief officer of Glasgow’s health and social care partnership, said of the idea of smoking drugs in the fix room: “Glasgow city had really detailed legal advice in relation to this. And that, precisely as the minister said, made it far too complex to put something in front of the Lord Advocate with Scottish Government support that would have been likely to get the outcome that we did.”
The smoking ban was introduced in 2006 to stamp out consuming ciggies in enclosed public spaces.
Those breaching the legislation can be hit with a £50 fine.
The drugs consumption room was given the green light on September 27 and will be based between a train line and the Glasgow Pram Centre’s car park.
It was approved by NHS and council officials and has the backing of the Scottish Government.
Backers reckon it will help cut Scotland’s appalling drugs deaths tally, which has been the worst in Europe.
But the controversial space has been criticised by drugs charities, academics and the UK Government.
In September, Annemarie Ward, CEO of Faces and Voices of Recovery, said a consumption room could “normalise” taking narcotics and sending a wrong message out to children.
And Dr Neil McKeganey, director of the Centre for Substance Use Research in Glasgow, said the focus should be on recovery services, adding: “The idea that we will tackle the problem of illegal drugs in Scotland by providing centres where these drugs can be used without fear of arrest is simply to provide one more boost to our nation’s drugs problem.”
Scottish Secretary Alister Jack told the House of Commons that drug consumption rooms are “not the easy solution” and added: “There is no safe way to take illegal drugs.”
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Tonight, Mr Findlay said: “It seems incredible to discover that Scotland’s 17-year-old tobacco smoking ban would end up blocking the smoking of crack cocaine in the SNP’s drug consumption room.
“If they do overcome this legal hurdle, then a full risk assessment must follow.”
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