NEWS ROUND-UP
Sites identified for potential Edinburgh consumption room
A new report from the Edinburgh Integration Joint Board( EIJB) has identified two sites for a proposed drug consumption room in the city. The facility would be the first to launch in the UK since The Thistle in Glasgow opened at the beginning of this year.
The report from the EIJB – which is a partnership between the local authority, NHS Lothian and third sector and service user representatives – makes a commitment to developing a business case for consideration by the Scottish Government. The two potential locations identified in the document are on Spittal Street and Cowgate, both in Edinburgh’ s Old Town. Around 10 per cent of the city’ s drug-related deaths this year have resulted from public injection in the Old
Town area, the report states.
The Scottish Government has said it would consider a business case as long as it was‘ informed by a public consultation’, which is planned for early next year. The consultation would‘ attract substantial attention and raise both hopes and fears within different communities’, the report acknowledges.
The proposed facility would have seven injection booths, along with a post-use area for additional support. Seven-day opening is‘ considered essential’, the report states, with the opening hours to be determined‘ on the basis of lived and living experience recommendations and the available data on times of overdose in the area’. The service would be integrated with existing outreach teams, and offer additional services like wound care and sexual health. Although the costings remain unconfirmed pending the final choice of location they are likely to be‘ substantial’, the report says, with Glasgow’ s Thistle facility currently backed by £ 2m annual government funding. The long-delayed Thistle was
Cowgate in Edinburgh is one of two possible sites for a new drug consumption room.
finally green-lit in late 2023 after Scotland’ s lord advocate clarified that it would‘ not be in the public interest’ to prosecute people for possession offences onsite.
Jorge Franganillo / Wiki Commons
‘ Urgent and ambitious’ alcohol strategy needed
AN OPEN LETTER to health secretary Wes Streeting has called for an‘ urgent and ambitious’ strategy to address rising levels of alcohol harm. The call follows what was widely seen as the watering down of alcohol policies in the ten-year NHS plan for England.
Signatories to the letter, which stresses the need for a‘ preventative and evidence-led approach’, include the royal colleges of physicians, general practitioners, surgeons and emergency medicine, alongside the BMA, Alcohol Change UK, the Alcohol Health Alliance, Change Grow Live, Waythrough and With You.
Alcohol-related deaths and hospital admissions are continuing to rise, the letter states, while key alcohol policies
– such as plans to tighten advertising regulations – were reportedly‘ removed’ from the final version of the ten-year plan.
Thirty per cent of UK adults are drinking at risky levels, says the letter, with almost one in 25 new cancers estimated to be alcohol-linked. The impact falls disproportionately on the most deprived communities, it adds, with death rates in the North East of England now overtaking those of Scotland in a‘ stark sign of the growing crisis’.
Among the measures the signatories want to see implemented are stronger marketing restrictions, the introduction of MUP and the reinstatement of the alcohol duty escalator, alongside improved NHS support. Open letter at https:// ahauk. org /
Adfam and Collective Voice launch family group
A NEW GROUP to improve the support available for families and affected others has been announced by Adfam and Collective Voice.
Despite the critical role that family support groups play in improving people’ s wellbeing and connecting them with others going through similar experiences, provision remains inconsistent across the country, the organisations stress. Collective action is therefore‘ vital to raise awareness, influence policy and ensure families receive the support they need and deserve’, with the new Collective Voice Affected Others Group bringing together family support organisations and people with lived experience.
It’ s estimated that around 5m people in the UK are negatively affected by someone else’ s drinking or drug use. An FOI request submitted by Adfam in 2024 revealed that while spending on residential rehab, needle exchange provision and substitute prescribing were all routinely accounted for, less than half of local authorities were able to provide any data on funding for family and carer support. Among those that did report allocating funding, the figures were‘ alarming’, said Adfam, with some allocating just 0.1 per or 0.2 per cent of their substance misuse budgets and the national average sitting just above 1.5 per cent( DDN, April, page 8).
The new group is an extension of the Alliance of Family Support Organisations, which Adfam set up three years ago.
Anyone interested can get touch at admin @ collectivevoice. org. uk
4 • DRINK AND DRUGS NEWS • SEPTEMBER 2025 WWW. DRINKANDDRUGSNEWS. COM