It is morally wrong not to open safer drug consumption room, says councillor
Allan Casey said ‘all eyes are on Glasgow’ as the UK’s first safer drug consumption room opens its doors.
It would be morally wrong not to open the UK’s first safer drug-consumption room in Glasgow, a councillor has said.
Allan Casey, who convenes Glasgow City Council’s addiction services, welcomed the official opening of the facility on Monday.
The Thistle Centre, in the city’s east end, will provide a space where drug users can take illegal substances such as heroin and cocaine under medical supervision in a clean and hygienic environment.
The Scottish Government hopes those who attend the pilot facility can be encouraged to seek support to overcome their addiction.
Mr Casey, who represents the bordering Dennistoun ward, said there was a clear demand for such a facility.
He told the PA news agency: “The first important milestone is actually getting the doors open which is good news.
“It’s been a long journey, a 10-year journey for some folk to get us to this stage. So that’s the most important bit of news.”
He said safer consumption rooms were not “the start or the end” of the battle against addiction.
But he described the opening as “one of the final pieces of the jigsaw” as he called for more facilities to be opened across Scotland.
“I think we need to expand safe consumption rooms further.
“There can’t just be one. One is not going to address the problems that we face, not just in Glasgow but, in fact, across the country.
“It’s the first step in the right direction towards a more humane service but we need to be able to expand this as much as possible, and we will demonstrate that that works within the confines of the UK.”
He said that during the course of Monday the number of people using the facility was “into double figures”, with some people coming back “multiple times”.
He added that users had been “really positive” about the service.
He said: “I believe now word of mouth will get out and they will be speaking to friends and other people that they know who are publicly injecting, and providing them with that information to say, actually, we can trust this service, and we can safely use it.”
He added: “And first and foremost, there have been no incidents today, which is what the service is all about, making sure that people are safe.”
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.
Mr Casey said: “For some folk, drug addiction is just the tip of the iceberg.
“We need to be tackling the real complex issues that they may have faced in their lives, and indeed, a lot of them will have adverse childhood experiences or other problems that they’ve been dealing with.
“So, morally, I think it would be wrong for us not to provide a service, and I think you have to justify why people in addiction should not have the level of service that everybody else should easily anticipate and expect to get.”
The Scottish Affairs Committee has launched an inquiry into the pilot in Glasgow to coincide with its opening.
MPs at Westminster will look at how effective it is at reducing drug-related deaths in Scotland.
It will also look at the legal and policy challenges when setting up the facility as well as its current legal position.
Drug policy is reserved to Westminster but justice is devolved to Holyrood.
Despite drugs such as heroin and cocaine being illegal, the safer consumption room was given the go-ahead after Scotland’s top law officer, the Lord Advocate, said it would not be “in the public interest” to prosecute users of the facility.
Asked about the inquiry, Mr Casey said: “All eyes are on Glasgow.
“We believe that we can make this work but we need the space and time now to deliver on that and make sure it does work.
“I don’t think we’ll see changes overnight.
“I think we do need a significant amount of time to prove and demonstrate that this works.
“I would work with anybody, whether it be the Scottish Affairs Committee, whether it be the UK Government, whether it be Scottish Government, or indeed further afield, to really promote the use of this facility, and indeed to expand on this.”
Labour MP for Glasgow West, Patricia Ferguson, who chairs of the Scottish Affairs Committee, said: “Scotland has the highest rate of drug deaths in Europe, and Glasgow is at the centre of this crisis.
“It’s vital that things change and that both Governments work together to tackle problem drug use and stop people dying.
“In 2019, a predecessor Scottish Affairs Committee recommended that the UK Government should support a pilot drug consumption room like this in Glasgow. Since then, policy and legal developments have made the facility a reality.
“This new inquiry is an important opportunity for us to look closely at how the facility reduces the harm caused by problem drug use, and what legal changes might be needed if the facility is to be made permanent.”
