Edinburgh drug consumption room: Campaigners stage protest over year of 'conscious inaction' on drug deaths

Campaigners staged a protest outside Edinburgh’s City Chambers by scattering plastic syringes across the entrance on the Royal Mile, forcing councillors to walk over them on their way into the full council meeting.The protesters were calling for speedier action to trial a drug consumption room in Edinburgh as a way of providing safe, supervised access to drugs for those with addictions in a bid to cut the persistently high level of deaths form overdoses in the Capital. The most recent figures showed a record 109 drug deaths in the Capital in 2021, up from 92 the year before.

The council voted a year ago to investigate the feasibility of running an official trial of a drug consumption room in the city – but the Safe Consumption Facility campaign has accused the council of 12 months of “conscious inaction” on the issue. Sean Grant, from the campaign group, said: "We did a deputation to council a year ago, talking about safe consumption facilities in Edinburgh, and the majority of councillors pledged support for it. And in that year they have done absolutely nothing, despite all their big talk. That’s why we’re here now.

“We bought 500 plastic syringes – without needles in them, obviously – and scattered them at the entrance to the City Chambers so councillors, who have pledged support for this in the past but done absolutely nothing, had to walk over them, and it was very poetic.” The protesters also spoke to councillors and invited them to have their picture taken with a placard saying “I’m fighting for a safe consumption facility in Edinburgh”. They said about ten had done so.

Sean Grant said: “Around one person every three days dies with an overdose in Edinburgh. Scotland has the highest drug death rate in Europe – it’s three times higher than in Wales and England – which shows that the government’s current policy on it isn’t working. We’re advocating for a safe consumption facility because a place that is clean, that has medical professionals, that provides life-saving care if someone goes into an overdose and provides clean needles would completely curb drug deaths. Studies have shown that safe consumption facilities act as a gateway to recovery because people aren’t being criminalised for having an addiction."

He said drug consumption rooms would also be much cheaper than the current way of dealing with drug addiction, so it would save money as well as lives.

But Mr Grant said council officials threatened the protesters with a fine if they did not remove the plastic syringes. He said: “They came out and said councillors had complained and threatened to fine us £200 if we didn’t pick them up. It seemed symbolic of the whole situation – they’ve managed to do more to pick up the syringes that hurt their feelings than they have to stop drug deaths in the past year. It’s disgraceful.”

The council denied councillors had complained about the syringes and said any fine would have been £80 rather than £200. A spokesperson said: “Staff at the City Chambers became aware of people throwing a large number of syringes onto the pavement and road outside the building. Council officers attended and advised them that their actions were littering and could result in a fine. Our team came to an amicable resolution with them to clear up the syringes which they did and thanked them for their co-operation.”

A spokesperson for the Edinburgh Health and Social Care Partnership (EHSCP) said: “The partnership has commissioned a feasibility study into drug consumption rooms which is currently under way. We are committed to allowing researchers the time to rigorously examine options and report back. Any future action on drug consumption rooms is dependent on legal clarification by the Scottish Government. The EHSCP and other members of the Alcohol and Drugs Partnership are working hard to minimise drug deaths by improving access to treatment, harm reduction and recovery opportunities.”