A facility where users can inject drugs under the supervision of nurses will open in Glasgow on Monday after almost a decade of debate over how to deal with the city's unwanted status as a European capital for drug-related deaths.
Offering a lounge with hot drinks and sofas, as well as injection booths, the Safe Drug Consumption Facility is the first of its kind in Britain and follows similar initiatives in other cities around the world. Including New York.
Users of the facility, named the Thistle in reference to Scotland's national coat of arms, will bring their own medicine. Staff will not administer injections, but will be on hand to monitor safety.
How will the drug consumption room work?
The new facility, which will operate year-round, has a reception and waiting area, a separate area with private injection cubicles, a recovery area and a space for counseling by charities and support organisations.
Users will have access to clean syringes, needles and tampons and will be allocated one of eight booths.
Thistle's service manager Lynn Macdonald told Scottish public broadcaster STV that users “don't have to tell us what drugs they're going to use”. But they will be asked to do so, he added, “so we can talk to them about harm reduction. There will be nurses monitoring the needles in the area of use.
Each cubicle has a slightly tilted mirror so that staff can observe the injection safely and not too close to the person. “It also gives them a bit of dignity,” Ms McDonald said. “That's the key to this service – that people are treated with respect and dignity when they come here.”
The Scottish government is funding the initiative with £2 million a year, or about $2.4 million.
What do the organizers hope to achieve and why in Glasgow?
Now there is More than 100 Drug consumption rooms around the world, researchers say, including Europe, Canada, the United States and Australia. Proponents say such facilities reduce the risk of overdose and infection, lower the cost of acute hospitalizations and connect users to health professionals who can offer addiction treatment.
in Scotland which the highest rate of drug deaths on record In Europe, Thistle is seen as the answer to the long debate about how to combat the harms of drugs. In 2023, 1,172 people died from drug abuse – a 12 percent increase from the previous year.
Opioids such as heroin, morphine and methadone were the most common drugs associated with death, accounting for 937 deaths.
In 2015, there was a significant HIV outbreak in Glasgow, particularly among people who inject drugs in public. According to Glasgow City Council, the virus was linked to homelessness and injecting in public.
Calls for a safe drug consumption facility gained attention after the 2016 report is estimated Around 400 to 500 people regularly inject drugs in Glasgow city centre, he said, raising the risk of infection and a wider threat to the public from discarded equipment, including needles.
The City Council said studies show that such facilities reduce drug-related harms, including overdose and death, and the transmission of infectious diseases, and generate “overall cost savings” by reducing calls to health care and time spent on care. the police and the courts in dealing with drug-related issues.
The Glasgow initiative marks a controversial moment for Britain's drug policy after years of debate over how to reduce overdoses and take consumption off the streets. The drug laws covering Scotland are set by the British Parliament in Westminster, but are enforced by the Scottish courts, which run their own system.
The new facility was legally made possible after Scotland's greatest lawyer, known as the Lord Advocate. he said that it would not be in the public interest to criminalize users for possessing illegal drugs in a safe consumption facility.
The British government said that it respects this decision and will not interfere with the Glasgow project. Although he said he would monitor the results of the initiative, he said there were no plans to reintroduce such schemes in England or Wales.
What do the critics say?
Some local residents oppose the opening because they fear it could bring more drug trafficking to the area.
Other critics worry that it would backfire. Faces & Voices of Recovery UK, a charity, said statement “There's nothing wrong with offering people a place to perpetuate destructive behaviors that keep them trapped in cycles of chaos, coercion, and despair.”
By focusing on consumption rather than recovery, he added, “these rooms send a devastating message: 'We don't believe you're going to get better.'”
But Scottish First Minister John Swinney welcomed the opening, saying in a statement on Friday that “while this facility is not a silver bullet, it is another significant step forward and will complement other efforts to reduce harm and death.”