STV NewsThe UK’s only drugs consumption room opened its doors in Glasgow on Monday.
Campaigners say the facility, known as the Thistle, will be life-changing in tackling drug-related deaths, but opponents believe it is a waste of money and will condone or even encourage drug abuse.
The £2.3m facility is located on Hunter Street in the east end of Glasgow and opened ten years after it was first proposed.
The centre will be supported with £2m of Scottish Government cash each year, and First Minister John Swinney said: “The safer drugs consumption facility will enable people who were always going to take drugs to be able to do so in a safer, clinical environment, but also have access to support and advice and counselling to help them to choose a different pathway in life.”
Scotland continues to have the worst rate of drug deaths in Europe, with the latest figures showing 1,172 people died from drug misuse in 2023 – a rise of 12% on the previous year.
With Glasgow one of the worst affected areas, groups in the city have campaigned for years for a safe consumption facility to be established.
The Lord Advocate Dorothy Bain, the Scottish Government’s chief lawyer, says it would not be in the public interest to prosecute people for simple possession offences when they are already in a place where help with their issues can be offered.
Therefore, possession of drugs within the facility will remain a criminal offence, but users taking them inside will not be arrested.
Swinney stressed there are a range of “interventions that are being made to ensure that we are doing everything we possible can do to address the entirely unacceptable level of drugs deaths that we have in Scotland today”.
Speaking about the new centre, he added: “I hope it will help us to reduce drugs deaths in Scotland and to help people to find a different route in their lives.
“We will evaluate the effectiveness of this particular intervention to determine what progress is achieved as a consequence of it, what impact it has had, and to learn the lessons from it.”
However he stressed the “first of its kind” centre will not be a “silver bullet” and should instead complement other action being taken by ministers to tackle the problem.
While Scottish Labour backed the pilot, it warned more needs to be done to tackle drugs deaths in Scotland – saying that since former first minister Nicola Sturgeon declared the situation to be a public health emergency in September 2019 there have been 4,892 drug-related deaths and a further 1,152 suspected drugs deaths, totalling 6,044 overall.
Health spokeswoman Jackie Baillie said: “While we welcome any attempt to reduce the number of drugs deaths in Glasgow, it’s clear that this pilot is a drop in the ocean when it comes to tackling a national public health emergency.
“Each of those 6,000 deaths since 2019 represents an individual tragedy and a family ripped apart on the SNP’s watch.
“The SNP must provide the support charities, local authorities and health workers need to provide a clear, accessible pathway out of addiction for those who are in the grip of substance abuse.
“A crisis on this scale requires a response of the same proportions — it’s up to the SNP to deliver it.”
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