Dozens of people accessed the services of the UK’s first drug consumption room in its first day of operation.
The facility, known as the Thistle, opened its doors in Glasgow on Monday offering a space where drug users can take illegal substances such as heroin and cocaine under medical supervision in a clean and hygienic environment.
Those working at the facility said they had welcomed people who had never accessed services before.
Campaigners say the Thistle will be life-changing in tackling drug-related deaths, but opponents believe it is a waste of money and will condone or even encourage drug abuse.
The £2.3m facility is located on Hunter Street in the east end of Glasgow and opened ten years after it was first proposed.
Councillor Alan Casey told STV News: “We feel today has been a success, we’ve supported our first service users and we’re confident that we’re well into double figures in terms of people accessing the safe consumption room.
“Some of those who visited today have never engaged with services before. It’s obviously a positive sign to see them engage.
“I believe now word of mouth will get out and they will be speaking to friends and other people that they know who are publicly injecting, and providing them with that information to say, actually, we can trust this service, and we can safely use it.
“And first and foremost, there have been no incidents today, which is what the service is all about, making sure that people are safe.”
Scotland continues to have the worst rate of drug deaths in Europe, with the latest figures showing 1,172 people died from drug misuse in 2023 – a rise of 12% on the previous year.
With Glasgow one of the worst affected areas, groups in the city have campaigned for years for a safe consumption facility to be established.
Mr Casey said: “For some folk, drug addiction is just the tip of the iceberg.
“We need to be tackling the real complex issues that they may have faced in their lives, and indeed, a lot of them will have adverse childhood experiences or other problems that they’ve been dealing with.
“So, morally, I think it would be wrong for us not to provide a service, and I think you have to justify why people in addiction should not have the level of service that everybody else should easily anticipate and expect to get.”
The Lord Advocate Dorothy Bain, the Scottish Government’s chief lawyer, says it would not be in the public interest to prosecute people for simple possession offences when they are already in a place where help with their issues can be offered.
Therefore, possession of drugs within the facility will remain a criminal offence, but users taking them inside will not be arrested.
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