Labour refuses to back controlled drug use rooms despite ongoing pilot

Ministers were accused of ‘condemning thousands of people to death’ over their stance

The Thistle drugs consumption room at the NHS Enhanced Drug Treatment Facility at Hunter Street Health Centre in Glasgow (Jane Barlow/PA Wire)

The UK Government has confirmed that it will not alter drug laws to permit new legal consumption rooms, regardless of the success of a pilot program in Glasgow.

The Thistle Centre, which opened earlier this year, was the result of a decade-long disagreement between the UK and Scottish governments. The Scottish government sought an exemption from the Misuse of Drugs Act to protect the facility's users from prosecution.

Scotland’s top law officer eventually determined that prosecuting users of the service, which provides a safe environment for drug injection, would not be "in the public interest," clearing the way for its opening.

Home Office minister Dame Diana Johnson has said that the law will not be changed to permit facilities like it as she appeared before the Scottish Affairs Committee at Westminster on Wednesday.

Asked if the Government could rethink that stance if the Thistle proves to be a success in driving down Scotland’s high drug death rates, the minister said: “We look at evidence, we have experts, we have the ACMD (advisory council on the misuse of drugs) who offer advice, we look at evidence all the time.

“But I just really want to be clear with you, we do not support drug consumption facilities, it’s not our policy and we will not be amending the Misuse of Drugs Act.”

The Thistle drugs consumption room opened earlier this year (PA Wire)

Liberal Democrat MP Angus MacDonald said his “jaw just dropped open” at the minister’s statement.

“If the Thistle turns out to be a great success within a year, I would be so excited about rolling that out everywhere,” he said.

He added that it is “the most wonderful way” of stopping people dying and can act as a pathway to rehabilitation.

After the minister repeated the Government’s stance, Mr MacDonald said: “You’re basically condemning thousands of people to death, in my opinion.”

Home Office minister Dame Diana Johnson (PA Archive)

But Dame Diana rejected his assertion, saying: “I don’t accept that, with the greatest of respect.

“This is not the only thing that we can do to deal with drug misuse and I think the UK Government is very clear that there are a number of measures that can be used.”

Labour MP Chris Murray also pointed out that it was Dame Diana who chaired the Home Affairs Select Committee which in 2023 released a report supporting a drug consumption room pilot.

Picking up on that point, SNP Westminster leader Stephen Flynn questioned what evidence she had to have changed her view.

“Mr Flynn, you’re a very experienced member of this House and you know that when a Member of Parliament becomes a minister, their personal views are irrelevant because they are there to represent the views of the Government,” she said.

“The recommendation that was made in that Home Affairs Select Committee report in the previous parliament was based on a group of politicians, cross-party, including your own party, that sat down and reached those recommendations together.

“That is very different to a Government policy that I am setting out today.”