Misinformation about Glasgow drug consumption room branded 'shameful'

The health secretary has spoken of his anger at misinformation being spread online about the UK’s first drugs consumption room.

Neil Gray condemned “shameful” falsehoods that the newly-opened Thistle Centre in the east end of Glasgow is handing out illegal drugs itself.

He also said claims that nearby streets are experiencing an increase in drug-related litter are untrue.

In contrast, he said the facility is allowing services like housing to engage with vulnerable people “in a way they’ve never seen before”.

The Thistle Centre, which officially opened in January, is a space where drug users can take illegal substances such as heroin and cocaine under medical supervision in a hygienic environment.

The Thistle Centre opened in Glasgow last month. PA Media

The pilot scheme is designed to reduce public drug use and help tackle Scotland’s drug deaths rate, which is the worst in Europe.

The health secretary spoke to a special Scottish Parliament committee on tackling drug harms on Thursday.

Labour’s Paul Sweeney asked him what the Scottish Government can do to tackle misinformation and disinformation around the Thistle Centre.

He said a video which made a number of false claims about the facility had attracted 150,000 views online.

These include claims the centre has led to a large amount of needles being discarded in a nearby Morrisons car park, that it has threatened public safety, and that staff are supplying people with drugs at the facility and carrying out the injections themselves.

The health secretary said all of these claims are wrong, adding: “I’m very grateful to Mr Sweeney for raising this because it’s something that angers me greatly.”

He said international evidence supports the use of safer drug consumption rooms, adding: “I think it’s shameful we’d see misinformation spread about it.

“We can challenge the evidence – we can have a debate about its efficacy, that’s why it’s a pilot.

“But to spread blatantly false information is wrong.”

He said community injecting had already been taking place in the area, which is one of the reasons the location was chosen for the pilot scheme.

Drugs like heroin are not provided at the Thistle Centre, he said, with users of the service bringing their own substances.

The SNP’s Bob Doris also raised an issue in his Maryhill and Springburn constituency, where a unit of housing was “given up” on as it was being occupied by drug users – with paraphernalia “strewn everywhere”.

Gray said he hopes the Thistle Centre will help with issues like this and that housing services are already engaging with people “in a way that they’ve never seen before, they’re speaking to people they haven’t spoken to before”.

Earlier this month, experts told a committee of MPs it will take several years for the full health impact of the consumption room to be understood.