Written evidence submitted by Dame Diana Johnson, Minister of State for Crime Policing and Fire – (SDC0012)
Submission to the Scottish Affairs Committee - House of Commons
In response to the call for evidence entitled:
‘Problem drug use in Scotland follow-up: Glasgow’s Safer Drug Consumption Facility’
1) Illicit drugs cause enormous harm across our societies, fuelling crime and devastating countless lives, which is why the UK Government is dedicated to driving down drug use and the associated harms through preventing use, delivering high quality treatment and recovery, and acting robustly to stop the criminals supplying these harmful substances.
2) Our approach to tackling drugs is closely linked to both our Safer Streets and Health missions by contributing to halving serious violent crime, including violence against women and girls, increasing confidence in the police and criminal justice system, and by reducing the wide-ranging and often severe health harms to users. Our approach also supports Safer Streets by helping tackle one of the major root causes of crime and anti-social behaviour, reducing violence and protecting vulnerable people from exploitation. Action to tackle drugs will play a key role in delivering the Health mission by helping to reduce premature mortality due to drug misuse – an entirely preventable cause of death – and reduce inequalities in morbidity and mortality. It also supports our missions to break down barriers to opportunity by reforming our childcare and education systems and kick start economic growth. This is evidenced in the links between drug use and school exclusions for example, and in the relationship between frequent drug use and unemployment.
3) The Government recognises the importance of evidence-based, high-quality treatment. We will continue to take preventative public health measures to tackle the biggest killers in our society, including drug use, and better support people to live longer, healthier lives. We are committed to ensuring that anyone who is struggling with their drug use can access the help and support they need.
4) The Government also recognises the importance of a whole system approach to tackling drug abuse. Since July 2024, police activity delivered through the County Lines Programme has resulted in over 400 deal lines being closed, the arrest and charge of over 200 deal line holders, 500 arrests and 800 safeguarding referrals of children and vulnerable people.
5) We have also expanded access to naloxone through recent changes in legislation so that more professionals and services can give out take-home supplies. Additionally, our world leading, evidence-based Individual Placement and Support Programme is successfully helping people with mental health and addiction issues find and keep paid jobs.
6) To counter new drug threats, we have put in place an enhanced early warning system, which is designed to improve our response to emerging drug threats, and we have strengthened our efforts to tackle synthetic drugs, particularly synthetic opioids, which have claimed the lives of over 400 people in the last 18 months, by introducing a generic control on nitazenes in January, aiming to safeguard against those seeking to evade the law by making minor alterations to existing controlled drugs.
8) The Home Office understands that the intended purpose of so-called drug consumption rooms is to prevent fatal overdoses by enabling drug dependent users to consume pre-obtained (typically illicitly supplied) controlled drugs under medical supervision. We also understand that these facilities are usually targeted at the most marginalised drug users who use drugs in public or other risky settings and are less likely to be in structured drug treatment, and that the rooms are therefore in part intended to move drug use away from public spaces where it can be a cause for concern and a health risk to the wider public.
9) Under the terms of the Misuse of Drug Act 1971, there is no lawful basis by which drug consumption rooms can be operated in the UK, and a range of offences are in theory being committed by those using or running the facilities, including possession of a controlled drug, production of a controlled drug, permitting premises to be used for the production of a controlled drug, and supply of a controlled drug. Additionally, under Section 9A of the 1971 Act, it is an offence to supply drug paraphernalia for the purpose of administering a controlled drug, although there are a small number of exemptions to this law, including hypodermic syringes and foil.
10) Some of these offences can carry significant penalties. For example, the maximum penalty for possession of a Class A drug such as heroin currently stands as up to seven years in prison, an unlimited fine, or both. Further, the maximum penalty for the supply of a Class A drug is life in prison, an unlimited fine, or both.
11) Whilst some aspects of policy to tackle drug misuse are devolved, including healthcare, criminal justice, housing and education, the legal framework on drugs is a reserved matter, and therefore – even if the Scottish Government have their own approaches to the management of addiction and other issues – the laws in the 1971 Act remain in force throughout the UK.
12) As such, and due to the wide range of offences that would likely be committed in the operation of a drug consumption room, the UK Government cannot condone its operation, and would not approve the opening of similar facilities in England and Wales.
13) The Government respects the independence of the Lord Advocate in making a decision that it would not be in the public interest to pursue prosecutions for certain offences carried out in the operation of a drug consumption room in Scotland, but that decision does not invalidate the 1971 Act, which can only be changed by the UK Parliament.
14) The Government therefore maintains that drug consumption rooms cannot lawfully be operated in the UK and has no plans to amend the law that would negate the offences committed within these facilities.
APRIL 2025
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