Safe injection centre boss ‘convinced’ more would have died without facility

The boss of the UK’s first safer drug consumption room has said she is “absolutely, fully convinced” more people would be dead as a result of overdose if the centre did not exist.

The Thistle opened in Glasgow in January after years of political wrangling between the Scottish and UK governments, allowing those who inject drugs like heroin and cocaine a safe place to do so, with medical professionals on hand should they be needed.

The centre has seen 17 overdoses since it opened, according to service manager Lynn Macdonald, some of which she believes would have resulted in death had staff not stepped in.

Speaking to BBC Radio Scotland, Ms Macdonald said: “You’re looking at 17 overdoses – I am absolutely, fully convinced that a number of those would have turned into fatalities had they not happened in the Thistle, if people were alone and isolated, didn’t have access to oxygen, Naloxone or an ambulance.”

The centre was established in a bid to stem the number of drug deaths in Scotland by offering a safe place to inject as well as referring users to support services.

However, Ms Macdonald said none of the users have asked for a rehab referral.

“At this stage, nobody’s asked for rehab as yet, but some people have asked for referrals into treatment services to start, for example, methadone, or another programme that’s based on site is the heroin-assisted treatment,” she said.

“We have had people requesting access to treatment services, we can facilitate that quite quickly.”

The centre boss said drug and alcohol services at Glasgow City Council was “simply a phone call” away for the Thistle, and there is “a lot we can offer people” once trust is established.

Locals in Glasgow’s east end, where the centre is based, have raised concerns about what they say is a rise in drug activity in the area since the Thistle opened its doors earlier this year.

“I absolutely understand their frustrations,” Ms Macdonald said.

“But the reality is, this has been a problem in the area for a number of years and that’s one of the reasons we picked that location for the Thistle.

“We know injecting away from home has been problematic in the local area, we can see that from reports that go to environmental health about litter and colleagues in Police Scotland keep us informed of that as well.”