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Scotland’s first drug-checking service, which was due to open on 5 October 2026 in Glasgow, has been postponed with no new date set for it to open, The Pharmaceutical Journal has learned.
A spokesperson for Glasgow City Health and Social Care Partnership (HSCP), which plans and delivers health and social care services across the city, told The Pharmaceutical Journal on 12 October 2026: “We are close to opening Scotland’s first local drug-checking service, and like any pioneering pilot project, there are a number of operational and technical complexities to work through.”
“[Partners] continue to work at pace to ensure the service can open as soon as possible,” they added.
The service, which would allow people to submit drugs for rapid analysis and receive harm-reduction advice alongside the results, was announced in September 2026, on the same day as figures from the National Records of Scotland showed drug use deaths in Scotland rose by 11% in 2025 to 1,133 deaths.
When asked about the postponement, Maree Todd, Scottish drugs minister, told The Pharmaceutical Journal: “This is a decision for Glasgow City HSCP, and the Scottish government understands that there are a number of complexities for them to work through. We will continue to work with them to ensure the service is operational as soon as possible.”
The timing of the service had already been raised in the Scottish parliament in September 2026, when MSP Jackie Baillie said drug-checking facilities had been under discussion for “more than five years”.
She added that the Glasgow site had been “delayed because of the snail’s pace at which the government operates”, noting that it was approved by the Home Office in October 2025.
The Scottish government has invested more than £1.7m in the drug-checking pilot programme, which also covers planned sites in Aberdeen, Dundee and Edinburgh.
Todd responded by telling MSPs that the process had been “complex”, adding that “it is not a simple overnight process to set up a drug-checking facility”, with equipment to procure and calibrate. She also noted that a national drug-testing laboratory had to be built in Dundee.
Todd continued that facilities in Dundee and Aberdeen held licences and were in the setting-up phase, which would “follow quickly”. However, an Edinburgh site “will take some time to bring into use”, she said.
Commenting on the delay, Nathan Burley, advanced public health/sexual health services pharmacist at NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde, said: “There’s been an advent of new, stronger synthetic opioids and benzodiazepines entering the illicit drug supply chains.
“For example, someone taking what they believe is diamorphine (heroin) may end up exposed to more potent fentanyl or nitazenes. This can lead to unintentional overdose and potentially death, so drug testing represents another opportunity for harm reduction by empowering people to know exactly what they are consuming and make safer decisions.
“The delay in this service being introduced is unfortunate. As a pilot, it will generate evidence to guide the forward travel of drug-checking services and how these might play a key role in reducing drug deaths in Scotland. As a public health pharmacist, I’ll be watching this pilot and evaluation closely to ascertain where there may be opportunities for pharmacy sectors such as community to support.”
The Glasgow service was due to operate from Hunter Street, which is the same site as The Thistle — the UK’s first safer drug consumption facility.
