The UK’s first safe drug consumption room is set to open in Glasgow on Monday at an NHS enhanced drug treatment service.
The Thistle, a £2.3 million facility, is funded by the Scottish Government to reduce drug overdoses, drug-related harms and make drug use less visible to the community.
Allan Casey, Glasgow City Councillor, said: ‘Between 400 to 500 people regularly inject in public in Glasgow city centre every two weeks. That’s the target group we are hoping will use this. If we get 20% that would be a massive success. In the last couple of weeks people have been coming and we’ve been telling them it’s not open yet. It is offering hope to people.’
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The Thistle is based in Glasgow's east end, where there is a high population of users who take drugs in public. According to Public Health Scotland, the country has the highest rate of drugs deaths in Europe, with fatalities rising by 12% in a year to 1,172 drug-related deaths in 2023, of which 246 were in Glasgow.
Campaigners urged the Government to start the facility for almost a decade after a surge in HIV infections in 2016 because of intravenous drug use. While it was blocked by the Home Office then, in 2023, Scotland's Lord Advocate Dorothy Bain KC released a statement permitting the facility to be opened. He said that ‘it would not be in the public interest’ to prosecute people injecting under medical supervision in ‘injection bays’ inside the building.
The centre will open every day from 9 am to 9 pm with about 31 staff. People arriving at the Thistle will have to register themselves and speak to the staff about the drugs they intend to inject. This can help the staff to prepare the necessary equipment and support them with additional needs. The users have access to eight booths after which they move to a recovery room to be monitored. The Thistle also provides access to a kitchen, lounge and shower for the people to be comfortable.
The staff hope that once users start coming in, they can be encouraged to access rehabilitation and treated timely for infections and other health hazards. It will also reduce the risk to public health because of less disposal of needles on streets and sharing of injections.
While the facility has brought much hope for the country, Dr Neil McKeganey, director of the Centre for Substance Use Research Scotland expressed concern that such centres would lead to a rise in the ‘number of overdose deaths… and none of those who have allocated scarce public funding will be remotely accountable for the decisions they have taken’.
‘What we should be doing, and what the Scottish Government has persistently refused to do, is to provide long-term support services focused on recovery, rehabilitation and drug prevention. Addicts need to be helped to move away from drugs they have become addicted to, not provided with easier access to those drugs,’ he said.
Dr Saket Priyadarshi, associate medical director for alcohol and drug recovery services at NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde admitted that it ‘would be a fairytale for me to say we can make it better overnight,’ but said the Thistle is a way of offering an ‘entrance’ into better healthcare. ‘We want to promote a safer injecting environment where people will get the support they need in order to provide a good alternative to the spaces they use at the moment. In a year’s time I hope we will have prevented deaths and hospital admissions – this service supports a reduction in ambulance callouts, and attendance at A&E with preventative care. I think it is much needed.’
The First Minister John Swinney has hailed the opening of the Thistle as a ‘significant step forward’ to tackle the drug problem and said it will be complemented by other action to improve public health.
‘The Scottish Government wants every person experiencing harm from alcohol or drug use to be able access the support they need and record levels of funding have been protected in next year’s Budget. We’ve maintained £112 million to local Alcohol and Drug Partnerships for local treatment and support services in 2024-25 – including £28.1 million to Greater Glasgow and Clyde ADP – and will continue to invest in residential rehabilitation.’