10 Jan 2025
Lynn Macdonald shows me around Glasgow’s new drug consumption room. She’s an NHS nurse who will supervise people as they inject their own drugs here, free from the fear of arrest.
“This is a service where people can come to be treated with dignity and with a bit of respect.”
Lynn Macdonald shows me around Glasgow’s new drug consumption room.
She’s an NHS nurse who will supervise people as they inject their own drugs here, free from the fear of arrest.
The centre – known as The Thistle – is bright and welcoming. People will be provided with clean equipment and a warm environment away from the streets. There is a lounge area where people can relax afterwards and there are shower and laundry facilities.
Glasgow’s facility is a UK first, but there are more than 100 services like this operating around the world.
They aim to reduce fatal overdoses and cut HIV transmission rates.
The Thistle is tucked away in the east end of Glasgow, near a supermarket and some industrial units.
It is a mile away from the city centre. Under a railway station bridge there, we met “Robin”, who uses heroin.
He was sceptical about how many people would use the new drug consumption room.
“It’s just going to give me an option of somewhere to go… but if my dealer is a mile that way… and the room is a mile the other way… do you think I’m going to the room? No! I’m going to the nearest close.”
Staff at the centre accept its reach will be limited but see it as a starting point.
Dr Saket Priyadarshi is the associate medical director for alcohol and drug recovery services at NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde.
“I’ve been very clear that this service on its own will not have an impact on the national drug-related death figures. We are going to be targeting this service at a very small and discrete population of people who experience the highest rates of harms and mortality, and I hope very much that it reduces the harms and drug-related deaths in that population. But it’s not a silver bullet for the national crisis that we have around drug-related deaths.”
The Scottish government fought hard to get this approach off the ground and is spending £2 million a year on the service.
Drug laws are reserved to Westminster and the previous Conservative government repeatedly dismissed calls for the legal powers to pilot the scheme, which was first proposed 10 years after an HIV epidemic.
Staff hope to also engage drug users who have proved hardest to reach with support for wider healthcare, housing and benefits also available.
Open 365 days a year from 9am to 9pm, the work of this centre will be closely watched.