Glasgow to approve UK’s first consumption room for illegal drugs

Glasgow is expected to approve the United Kingdom’s first official consumption room for illegal drugs like heroin and cocaine.

At the centre, users will take their own drugs under the supervision of trained health professionals.

The idea has been in the pipeline for years but can now go ahead after Dorothy Bain, Scotland’s senior law officer, said users would not be prosecuted for possessing illegal drugs while at the facility.

“On the basis of the information I have been provided, I would be prepared to publish a prosecution policy that it would not be in the public interest to prosecute drug users for simple possession offences committed within a pilot safer drugs consumption facility,” she said.

The facility is seen as a way of tackling the country’s fatal drugs crisis.

According to the BCC, the consumption room plan will be discussed on Wednesday by Glasgow’s integration joint board, made up of NHS and Glasgow city council officials.

A health centre in the east end of the city, which currently prescribes pharmaceutical heroism to 23 long-term drug users, would be used for a pilot scheme.

‘RAPID AND CONVENIENT ACCESS TO HOLISTIC DRUG TREATMENT’

A report on the facility prepared by officials from the NHS and the council says it aims to tackle the problem of “approximately 400 to 500 people injecting drugs in public places in Glasgow city centre on a regular basis”.

“Many of these individuals have long-standing heroin addiction despite repeated rounds of existing treatments, such as methadone and residential rehabilitation,” the report reads.

“These people are at high risk of very poor health outcomes, as illustrated by the recent outbreaks of HIV, botulism and anthrax.

“They are also at high risk of drug-related death, rates of which have increased significantly in Glasgow in recent years.

“By providing a co-located service, with both Safer drug consumption facilities (SDCFs) and Heroin-assisted treatment (HAT) on the same site, people attending the SDCF will have rapid and convenient access to holistic drug treatment and recovery services.

“Although not everyone who attends the SDCF will be ready to start treatment, it will help reduce harms associated with drug use and support them to access services appropriate to their stage of the recovery journey.”