Drug consumption rooms can help reduce the harm caused by addiction

These ‘rooms’ are safe and supervised places where people who use drugs can inject or inhale illicit substances without fear of prosecution, and they could be saving lives right now

The Government must stop shutting down the debate about how a change of direction could save people’s lives (Getty)

An extremely unusual exhibition is opening its doors on Friday.

The Museum of Drug Policy uses art to demonstrate how drug policies affect people across the globe and it’s coming to London for the third stop on a global tour. This exhibition matters, because the war on drugs has failed – and it’s time we widen the debate about how to solve this public health emergency.

The statistics on the issue really do speak for themselves. The Office for National Statistics said 3,744 people – 2,572 men and 1,172 women – were fatally poisoned by both legal and illegal drugs in England and Wales in 2016, 70 more than the previous year and the highest number since comparable statistics began in 1993.

About 70 per cent of the deaths were a result of “drug misuse”, with the highest rate coming in the 40 to 49 age category. Shockingly, almost one in three drug overdoses in Europe were recorded in the UK – and Home Office statistics suggest that illegal drug use costs our economy more than £10bn a year. The biggest killer, by quite a margin, is heroin.

My home city, Brighton and Hove, has been fairly progressive on drug policy, yet the failure of national policy can be seen on our streets – with shop owners recently finding pavements splattered with blood and needles. With Public Health England saying that a large number of heroin-related deaths are among people not in treatment, we urgently need better ways to reach out and save lives.

The need for evidence-based decision making on drugs couldn’t be more apparent, and that’s why I believe that we must consider on a case-by-case basis in communities across the country whether drug consumption rooms would help reduce drug-related harms.

These “rooms” are safe and supervised places where people who use drugs can inject or inhale illicit substances without fear of prosecution, and they could be saving lives right now. Similar schemes operate in 10 other countries, including Australia, Germany, France, Ireland and Switzerland – and Glasgow is soon set to be the first British city with such a project in place.

Not only do these spaces save lives, decrease the risk of users contracting HIV and other diseases and clear related paraphernalia from our streets and parks, but they also help people access support services, such a healthcare, housing and benefits. They can help people take the first step in the journey from harmful addiction to a healthier life – specifically because they provide safety from the hard hand of the law, which criminalises drug use.

The Government’s own advisory board agrees and has recently recommended medically supervised drug consumption clinics be considered in some localities.

With Glasgow going ahead with drug consumption rooms, it’s time the UK Government wakes up their life-saving potential and creates a legal framework to support the setting up of these spaces.

Following the evidence on drugs policy is the key – and drug consumption rooms should be just the start of wider changes to the legal and political deadlock we find ourselves in. It’s time to shift away from a drug policy framework that’s dripping with moralism while utterly lacking humanity and effectiveness. The evidence is utterly clear on this: making drug use illegal doesn’t stop people doing it, and doesn’t protect them from harm.

Make no mistake, prohibition kills and a refusal to change direction at this juncture is unforgivable.

Cities like Brighton and Hove should be leading the way by revisiting whether providing safe places for people to consume drugs will reduce drug-related harms, and the Government should be acting on this emergency too by actively considering the evidence and no longer shutting down the debate about how a change of direction could save people’s lives.

Caroline Lucas is co-leader of the Green Party of England and Wales