Professor John Robertson OBA

In 2017:

The largest review ever undertaken, of 349 research studies, from across the globe though mostly in Europe, carried out by the Centre for Criminology at the University in South Wales in 2017, found that ‘safe’ or ‘supervised’ injection rooms significantly reduced drug-related harms, dramatically cut mortality and offered a range of benefits for the wider population, in terms of reduced crime, nuisance in public spaces, violence and trafficking.

Apologies, link seems to have moved.

In the Guardian, January 2024:

Thousands of lives could be saved if safe rooms were set up in UK cities where people could be supervised while they get high, the world’s largest review of the effectiveness of drug-consumption rooms and overdose-prevention centres (OPCs) has found.

“OPCs can help save lives in an urgent and growing drug-death crisis in the UK,” said Dr Gillian Shorter, reader in psychology at Queen’s University Belfast, who worked with academics at the universities of Oxford, Kent, East Anglia, West London and Bristol on the study. https://www.theguardian.com/society/2024/jan/11/drug-consumption-rooms-could-save-thousands-of-uk-lives-study-finds

Yet today from BBC Scotland:

The UK government has said it will not make changes to drug laws to allow the creation of more legal drug consumption rooms. In January, The Thistle in Glasgow became the UK’s first facility where people could inject heroin or cocaine while under medical supervision without being prosecuted. The Scottish Affairs Committee recommended that the UK government should change reserved legislation to create a new legal framework for similar facilities to open across Scotland, but this has been refused. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cly9yx4xg1zo

Astonishing or just more Reform UK mirroring?