By Aaron Masterson

Scotland's struggle with drugs has again come to light after Police Scotland have confirmed the recovery of £120,000 worth of cannabis from an address in Greenock. This happened at around 11:50am on Tuesday, at 12:45pm that day, Police Scotland received a call reporting a possible cannabis cultivation in Tradlin Circle in Aberdeenshire. After responding to this report, police found 287 plants of cannabis inside the property which amounted to a £200,000 sum.

Scotland is the worst country in Europe for substance abuse. In 2023, Scotland had 1,172 drug-related deaths which was a 12% increase from the previous year. This equates to 277 deaths per million people almost double that of Ireland who are the next biggest in Europe with 97 drug-related deaths per million.

One of the reasons for Scotland’s high drug abuse is poverty. According to theweek.com, those living in deprived areas in Scotland are 15 times more likely to die from drug abuse than more affluent people. A joint submission from the alcohol and drug partnerships of Angus, Perth and Kinross said 74% of those who died from drug-related causes in Tayside in 2017 struggled with mental health. However, there have been attempts to combat this problem using Drug Consumption Rooms (DCR).

The UK’s first Drug Consumption Room was opened on Hunter Street in Glasgow on 13 January 2025. These rooms are designed to give people a safe place to inject drugs and do so safely. The first country to implement these rooms was Switzerland.

Switzerland opened their first DCR in 1986 with hopes that it would reduce drug related deaths. It also encourages people to inject drugs with clean needles to help prevent the spread of Blood Borne Viruses (BBV) such as HIV, Hep C and Hep B. Switzerland now has 12 facilities for safe drug consumption. Since their introduction Switzerland’s opioid related deaths in the past 20 years have decreased by 64% and HIV has dropped to just 318 deaths in 2023. Switzerland now has undeniable evidence of the functionality of these DCR rooms.

Facing Scotland's drug problem