Health officials say there has been a shift in recent years away from injecting heroin towards smoking crack cocaine in both cities, a trend they argue presents different public health risks and requires a revised harm-reduction response.

Glasgow City Council has asked the Scottish government to allow the UK’s first officially sanctioned drug consumption room, the Thistle Centre, to be expanded. The facility, which opened earlier this year in the city’s east end and currently provides supervised injecting spaces for heroin users, could be extended to include enclosed, ventilated booths for people who smoke crack cocaine.

Kelda Gaffney, Glasgow’s chief social work officer, told the city’s integrated joint board that experience since the centre opened had demonstrated that the addition of a smoking room was “critical” to its overall effectiveness.

She said cocaine was now the most commonly used drug, whether injected or smoked, and was frequently adulterated. Local data suggested injecting was in decline while smoking was increasing, altering the balance of public health considerations in favour of providing facilities for crack users.

Drug policy specialists generally maintain that smoking drugs carries fewer risks than injecting, but stress that users still require access to health services, social care, housing support and routes into treatment and recovery.

Cocaine featured in almost half of the 1,017 drug-related deaths recorded in Scotland last year, and in 52 per cent of deaths in Glasgow. Provisional figures for this year show nearly 900 deaths from all forms of drug misuse between January and September, an increase of eight per cent on the same period last year, including 195 deaths in Glasgow and 81 in Edinburgh.

However, smoking in public places remains an offence under the Smoking, Health and Social Care (Scotland) Act 2005. The legislation allows fines of up to £1,000 for individuals and £2,500 for those who permit smoking in public premises.

In addition, facilitating drug use is prohibited under the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971, which is reserved to the UK Parliament. Home Office ministers have declined to amend that legislation, prompting the Scottish government to seek a statement of prosecution policy from the Lord Advocate, Dorothy Bain KC, confirming that drug users would not be prosecuted for breaches of the act within the Thistle Centre.

Glasgow health officials believe that any extension of the facility to include crack smoking would require that prosecutorial assurance to be widened, and that similar approval could be sought in advance if Edinburgh proceeds with plans for its own safe consumption centre.

A spokesperson for the Crown Office said: “The lord advocate would consider any request to extend the pilot scheme’s statement of prosecution policy. However, a full response can only be provided when the complete details of a specific proposal are available.”