Glasgow council reveals opening date for UK’s first drug consumption room | UK News

The UK’s first safer drug consumption room will open in less than two weeks in Glasgow, the council has confirmed.

It will allow users to take illegal substances under medical supervision in the hope they will get help for their addiction.

Approved in September 2023, the aim was for it to open last year but final checks on water and ventilation systems pushed it back.

The council has now said the facility on Hunter Street, in the city’s east end, will start operating on 13 January.

Known as the Thistle, it will be open 365 days a year from 9am to 9pm and is based in the same building as a current treatment facility.

Scotland has the highest rate of drug deaths in Europe – with the problem centred in Glasgow.

In 2023, 1,172 people died due to drug misuse, according to National Records of Scotland data. That was up 121, or 12%, compared with the previous 12 months.

Opioids – such as heroin – were implicated in 80% of the deaths.

Drug consumption rooms are a regular feature in some other major European cities that have claimed high success rates in saving lives.

Allan Casey, head of addiction services for the council, said he was “delighted” that all necessary checks had been completed.

“We have been pushing for a safer drug consumption facility for some time,” he said.

“It’s a welcome relief to know we can finally have people in to access the service and support available within the Thistle.

“We know from all the other safer drug consumption rooms in operation across the world that they do make a difference.”

Read more on this story from Sky News’ Scotland correspondent Connor Gillies:
Life inside Europe’s drugs death capital
‘I lost my leg to £15 heroin hit’
Consumption rooms could spell trouble – analysis

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The idea was first mooted in 2016 after a HIV outbreak in the city, but was beset by political wrangling between the Scottish and UK governments.

The Home Office previously said there was “no safe way to take illegal drugs”.

Those who oppose the idea fear it could downplay the dangers and divert vital resources from treatment-based approaches.

However, Scotland’s most senior legal officer, Lord Advocate Dorothy Bain KC, paved the way for the facility in 2023 when she said it wouldn’t be “in the public interest” to prosecute people using it.

The big test in the years ahead is set to be whether deaths decrease or not – and how it operates alongside the work of law enforcement.