If you run a nightclub or business frequented at night, a regular concern for many businesses is the use and misuse of illicit substances. This is a scourge that anti-drug lighting is intended to help battle.

The characteristic blue lights, designed to make it harder to inject needle drugs, are so well known and understood that a major harm reduction service uses the concept in its name to emphasise the importance of safely reducing drug use rather than criminalisation or stopping users from seeking help at a treatment centre.

They work because your veins look blue under your skin under normal light, so by shining a blue light on them, it becomes impossible to see them and thus impossible to safely find a vein to inject drugs such as heroin.

Where should anti-drug lights be installed? In general, any public space where there is known to be a drug issue should consider blue lights as a potential deterrent and harm reduction option.

In general, the most common locations where they are fitted are areas which are discreet enough and out of sight of other security measures, such as cameras or members of staff.

The most common places these are found are public toilets, as there is a minimum expected level of privacy when in a toilet stall, which can be potentially misused by intravenous drug users.

Bathrooms in nightclubs, hospitals, petrol stations, late-night restaurants with toilet facilities and hidden alcoves and corners where drug use could be predicted or has previously happened can be candidates for installing blue lighting.

In 2024, one council, according to the Romford Recorder, installed blue lights outside several blocks of flats where frequent drug use had been reported in order to help combat a wave of crime.

Alongside other forms of harm reduction, which are the responsibility of the council and wider community, blue lighting can be effective at reducing illicit drug use when employed strategically.