Gerard Ferry / Alamy Stock Photo
The first street drug-checking service in Scotland is to open at the Glasgow site where the UK’s first safer drug consumption room — ‘The Thistle’ at the Hunter Street Health and Care Centre — opened in January 2025.
In a statement published on 17 October 2025, the Scottish government announced that the drug-checking service had been approved by the Home Office.
As part of the service, “people will be able to submit drugs for testing and receive harm-reduction advice alongside the results”, the statement said.
Applications for similar services in Aberdeen and Dundee have been submitted to the Home Office, “while a fourth facility in Edinburgh is working on its application”, it added.
Commenting on the Home Office approval for the drug-checking service, councillor Allan Casey, Glasgow City convener for workforce, homelessness and addiction services, said: “We are delighted to have received notification of the Home Office licence approval, having worked on the application and alongside national partners for some time.
“The service will complement other harm-reduction services in operation across the city and provide an opportunity to engage people in conversations about their health and wellbeing, as well as treatment, care and recovery.”
There were a total of 1,017 drug misuse deaths in 2024, according to latest statistics published by National Records of Scotland.
Drug misuse deaths increased over the past two decades to their peak in 2020. They have generally decreased since then, with the exception of a 12% increase in 2023.
The Scottish government also announced that the University of Dundee will trial Scotland’s first national testing and research laboratory for drug checking, which will “analyse samples to help respond to emerging trends, such as highly dangerous synthetic substances”.
“The Leverhulme Research Centre for Forensic Science at the University of Dundee will provide more complete analysis of samples from the local sites, giving vital information for the national early warning system” the government said.
This will include samples submitted to the Glasgow drug-checking service, the university confirmed.
The pilot will be backed by more than £1.5m of funding from the Scottish government.
Maree Todd, minister for drugs and alcohol policy, said: “It is particularly important in light of the current dangers posed by new synthetic opioids like nitazenes, which raise the risk of overdose and death. Often people who use drugs are not aware of exactly what they contain. That is why we have consistently impressed upon the UK government the importance of giving drug-checking facilities the go-ahead.
“We will now work at pace with local partners in Glasgow and all the pilot cities to get these services up and running as soon as possible.”
Abigail Wilson, director of pharmacy for drug and alcohol charity WithYou, said: “This groundbreaking pilot positions Glasgow and the University of Dundee at the forefront of lifesaving harm reduction in the UK.
“Drug supplies have become increasingly complex and dangerous in recent years, particularly with the rise in cheap synthetic drugs which are now regularly added to other substances. Drug-checking services enable people to assess the risks and avoid contaminated substances. We urge the UK government to introduce these services across the whole of the UK.”
In 2024, a drug-checking service — thought to be the UK’s first — opened in Bristol. Funded by Bristol City Council, the service is run jointly by drug harm reduction charity The Loop, Bristol Drugs Project, the University of Liverpool and University of Bath.
In Wales, drug users can anonymously post samples to the Welsh Emerging Drugs and Identification of Novel Substances service, which is run by Public Health Wales.
