Scottish ministers are considering a change in the law banning smoking in public places to allow drug users to smoke crack cocaine in special facilities in Glasgow and Edinburgh.

Health experts said there had been a significant increase in the number of users switching from injecting heroin to smoking crack in both cities, which they said raised new health challenges and opportunities.

Officials in Glasgow have told the Scottish government they want to expand the UK’s first officially sanctioned drugs consumption room at the Thistle centre – which opened this year in the city’s east end to allow the supervised injection of heroin using fresh needles – to include enclosed, ventilated booths for crack smokers.

Kelda Gaffney, Glasgow’s chief social work officer, has told the city’s integrated joint board, which blends health and social services into a unified care service, that since the centre opened it had become clear that adding a smoking room was “critical” to its success.

She said cocaine was the most heavily used drug, both by injecting and smoking, but it was often adulterated. Their data showed needle use was falling but smoking increasing, shifting the public health arguments towards supporting crack users.

Drug policy experts argue smoking drugs is often less risky than injecting, but users still needed health, social care and housing support, and help moving off drugs.

Scottish ministers and health officials have embraced safe consumption facilities as part of efforts to combat Scotland’s record rate of drug deaths, which is the worst in Europe and more than three times higher than England and Wales.

Cocaine was implicated in nearly half of the 1,017 drugs deaths in Scotland last year, and 52% of deaths in Glasgow. This year’s data shows that nearly 900 people died from all types of misuse between January and September, 8% up on the same period last year, including 195 in Glasgow and 81 in Edinburgh.

But under the Smoking, Health and Social Care (Scotland) Act 2005, which came into force in 2006, smokers face a £1,000 fine per incident while people who allow smoking in a public place could be fined £2,500 per incident.

Supporting drug use is also illegal under the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971, which is controlled by the UK government.

Home Office ministers refuse to amend that legislation, forcing ministers in Scotland to ask Dorothy Bain, the lord advocate and head of Scotland’s prosecution service, to issue a “statement of prosecution policy” saying drug users would not be charged for breaching the act inside the Thistle centre.

Health officials in Glasgow believe Bain would need to expand that waiver to include crack smoking, and she could be asked to approve crack cocaine use from the start if Edinburgh goes ahead with its safe consumption facility.

A spokesperson for Edinburgh’s health and social care partnership said the business case for its safe consumption facility was still being developed. No final decision on including a smoking room had yet been made.

She added: “There is evidence that the use of inhaled crack/freebase is an increasing element of drug use in Edinburgh and that it contributes to risk of harm and death, so it is likely that we will consider options for this in order to maximise the potential benefits of a safer drug consumption facility.”

Maree Todd, Scotland’s drug and alcohol policy minister, said her officials were “working closely” with officials in Glasgow, Police Scotland and the Crown Office to investigate their options. Government sources said it may take some time to do so.

She did not commit to revising the smoking ban legislation but welcomed Glasgow’s decision to investigate the need for smoking facilities. “The Thistle facility continues to demonstrate the value of an evidence-based approach to safeguarding life and reducing drug-related harm,” she said.

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.”

The Scottish Drugs Forum, which campaigns for drugs law reform, said Scotland’s smoking ban and the UK-wide criminalisation of drug possession created a “double barrier” for those trying to support crack users.

“This legal impasse leaves facilities unable to implement the very interventions that international evidence shows are essential for responding to rising crack use and the broader drug-related deaths crisis,” said Kirsten Horsburgh, the forum’s chief executive.

The calls for amending the smoking ban legislation may overshadow 20th anniversary commemorations in 2026. Scotland was the first country in the UK to ban smoking in enclosed public places, a measure that paved the way for Scotland to also introduce the UK’s first law fixing a minimum pricing for alcohol.

Since it came into force, smoking rates have fallen by half, from 28% of the population to 14%, partly due to much stricter rules on advertising and shop displays, higher taxes, and health warnings on packets.