People in Glasgow say safe drug consumption room has caused rise in crime

Residents of Glasgow’s east end say their streets have become a “dumping ground” in the months since the UK’s first drug consumption room opened.

People living in the Calton area gathered to discuss the impact on their streets in the five months since the Thistle Centre opened its doors.

They said there has been a stark rise in evidence of drug dealing, the discarding of drug paraphernalia and dangerous anti-social behaviour since January.

Residents of Glasgow’s east end say their streets have become a “dumping ground” in the months since the UK’s first drug consumption room opened. STV News

They have called upon First Minister John Swinney to visit the area.

The drug consumption room opened in January 2025, marking a landmark change in the approach to drug policy in Scotland.

The three-year pilot project was granted the go-ahead after Lord Advocate Dorothy Bain KC issued a statement that it would not be in the public interest to prosecute those using the centre for possession of drugs.

The centre allows drug users to take illegal substances with trained medical staff on hand to deal with emergencies.

Campaigner Colin McGowan, from the charity Blameless, brought a box containing 50 used needles that he claimed he collected on Tobago Street along to a community meeting at the St Luke’s venue on Monday night.

He told STV News he had lifted more than 200 needles from the Morrisons supermarket car park, which sits opposite the consumption room.

Addressing the meeting on Monday evening, Colin said: “We know there’s an increase in crime in the area and we know there’s a distinct lack of law enforcement.

“We’re demanding that the First Minister of Scotland listens to the people of Calton.”

Campaigner Annemarie Ward, of charity Faces and Voices of Recovery (FAVOR), a long-time opponent of the establishment of the Glasgow drug consumption room, also addressed the meeting.

She said: “This is about a failed policy and a failed response because the response has been one of harm reduction rather than recovery.

“The intention with this room is to open other rooms like this across the country – it’s a measure of absolute failure.”

She added: “We’re being gaslit, we’ve been being told this has been a crisis since 2019, I don’t see a crisis response.”

Speaking to STV News after the meeting, she said: “It’s incredibly frustrating and really, really sad. To listen to people say their community has been devastated by the drug consumption room – not wanting to walk their dogs at night, go out alone, the mess, the paraphernalia, the crime rates going up.

“This is all stuff that we warned the Scottish Government about.”

East end residents Vanessa Paton and Angela Scott described feeling like the area was a “war zone”.

They said: “We ourselves have seen the increase in the drug paraphernalia, the needles being left discarded. We’ve even seen the increase in shoplifting at Morrisons, you’re listening to old age pensioners here say they’ll not go round to the shops later.”

STV News has contacted Morrisons for comment on the concerns of residents.

Another resident, Craig Campbell, told STV News: “It’s just making it hellish for everybody. You can’t leave your door open for two minutes, there’s people walking down the streets at random times of night trying doors.”

The community meeting comes after the Lord Advocate said last week that there was “no reason” why similar projects could not go ahead but that she has not received any other proposals to set up safer drugs consumption rooms.

Police Scotland said it was aware of “long-standing issues” in the area and said its officers continue to work to address the concerns.

Chief inspector Max Shaw said: “Police Scotland has a duty to respond to the needs of our communities.

“We remain committed to reducing the harm associated with problematic substance use and addiction and our approach to any initiative, aimed at tackling these harms, will be to establish how best we can support it within the confines of the law.

“We continue to engage with members of the local community to discuss any concerns and would encourage reporting of incidents to Police Scotland.”

Residents of Calton have called for First Minister John Swinney to visit the area. STV News

The Council’s addiction services convener told STV News that he thinks the city needs to recognise the concerns raised by the local community.

“It’s something that I’ve been concerned about for over a decade now as an elected member – and it’s part of the reasons why we wanted to open the safe consumption room to address these longstanding issues – because it’s not a new phenomenon,” councillor Allan Casey said.

“If there is a genuine feeling that that’s increased then we need to respond to that and we need to listen to the local community. I must say though that our reporting hasn’t shown an increase in publicly discarded needles.

“And the police have been telling us that there’s not an increase in reported [drug-related] crime. I think there’s maybe an issue of underreporting and I’d urge the community to report as many issues as they’ve got to allow us to address those concerns.”

Scotland’s health secretary has defended the safe consumption room saying the Thistle had saved lives.

Neil Gray also said that similar facilities around the world had reduced levels of public drug consumption and publicly discarded drug-related litter.

““Almost 250 people have used the Thistle since it opened in mid-January with around 2000 injecting episodes – helping to protect people against blood-borne viruses and taking used needles off the streets, ensuring they’re safely disposed of within in the service,” he said.

“I recognise local people’s concerns and Glasgow partners are addressing them through outreach work, ongoing needle uplift operations, and plans to expand public needle disposal bins. Glasgow Health and Social Care partnership will continue to engage with the local community and a comprehensive independent evaluation will examine the service’s impact.”