The City of Edinburgh Council has launched a consultation to let local residents share their views on a proposed drug consumption room for the city. The facility would be the first to launch in the UK since Glasgow’s The Thistle opened in January last year. Â
The 13-week consultation process will allow people who live or work in the city’s Old Town area to have their say on the plans, via an online hub or city-centre drop-in sessions. People with lived experience and families affected by drug use will also be consulted, the Edinburgh Health and Social Care Partnership states. The outcome of the consultation will then help determine whether to develop a formal business case to be presented to the Scottish Government.
Around 10 per cent of Edinburgh’s drug-related deaths are the result public injection incidents in the Old Town, according to a report from the Edinburgh Integration Joint Board (EIJB) last year. Two potential city centre sites for the facility were identified last summer, in Cowgate and Spittal Street.
‘There has long been calls for a safer drug consumption facility in Edinburgh,’ said Edinburgh Health and Social Care Partnership chief officer Christine Laverty. ‘Research suggests that this type of facility would reduce drug-related harm and, crucially, reduce the number of fatal overdoses. This will allow the public to give their views on a safer drug consumption room, and we are keen to hear from a wide range of people which will help us to shape any business case for a safer drug consumption facility in Edinburgh.’
Consultation available here until 1 July