Britain’s first legal drug consumption space, the Thistle, will open its doors in Glasgow’s East End on Monday morning, after a decade-long battle to make the ground-breaking facility a reality.
The Thistle will remain open 365 days a year from 9am to 9pm and will enable some of the city’s most vulnerable addicts to use their own drugs in a clean and safe environment under the supervision of health professionals.
Such is the interest from Britain that Glasgow City Council is coordinating a network of interested cities to lobby the Westminster government for a change in the law that could allow further pilot projects.
But this potentially transformative moment in British drug policy is taking place while Scotland’s drug deaths remain the worst per capita in Europe, the equivalent of killing three Scots every day. Last week it emerged that more than 1,500 drug-addicted babies had been born in recent years, adding to widespread anger over the Scottish Government’s continued failure to stem the trend, with residential rehabilitation and wraparound care underfunded to help people support those receiving medical assistance. .
It is “really important” that the facility is not seen as a silver bullet to the drug death crisis that continues to grip the city and the country, said Dr Saket Priyadarshi, deputy medical director of Glasgow’s Alcohol and Drug Recovery Services. “It’s another part of a healthcare system, another piece of the puzzle that responds to a very complex problem.”
But he also hit back at critics who favor abstinence-based recovery over harm reduction, and has questioned the merits of spending on a facility that will house a few hundred addicts when funding elsewhere is so limited.
“I don’t see why we shouldn’t spend money on a group that has the highest death rates of any population in Scotland. If I were in clinical charge of an oncology service, I would not be asked these questions. I don’t know why I’m in clinical charge of drug services when we all say the drug death crisis is a national shame.”
“All eyes are on Glasgow,” acknowledged Allan Casey, chairman of the city council’s addiction services, with “huge pressure to make sure we get it right”.
“We know around the world that safe consumption makes a difference, but we need to show that it works within the borders of Britain and within the limits of the Misuse of Drugs Act,” he added.
With drug laws reserved for Westminster, the previous Conservative government repeatedly rejected calls from Glasgow City Council, backed by the Scottish Government, to be given legal powers to test such a plan, which was put before the House a decade ago was first proposed after an HIV epidemic spread among street addicts. highlighting the cold, dark and dangerous corners of the East End, not so far from the Thistle, where street users injected their drugs.
The green light for this three-year pilot was finally given after Scotland’s top legal officer confirmed that users would not be prosecuted.
Anyone who wants to use theThistle does not have to give their full name at reception. A staff member will have a brief chat with them about what medicines they are taking and how they want to take them, before taking them to a bright, open space with eight injection booths with tilted mirrors so nurses can keep an eye on things. users without invading their privacy.
In the lounge area, where people can relax afterwards, the creamy walls, deep armchairs and double-sided bookcases full of novels, puzzles and mindfulness coloring books are reminiscent of a luxurious wellness retreat. Nearly every element of the Thistle was also informed by an advisory group of former addicts, who dictated the need for shower and laundry facilities, as well as a covered outdoor tobacco smoking area.
“If you want to reach the population we are trying to reach, this service has to be very different,” Priyadarshi explains. “They have often had difficult experiences with conventional healthcare, so that includes everything from the way the staff greets them at the door, the language we use – the meeting room is now called the chat room, the treatment room is called the health room. – the fact that staff will not wear NHS uniforms.”
The supervision at The Thistle has been deliberately kept light, based on the experience of the enhanced drug treatment facility, which provides addicts with pharmaceutical-grade heroin, from the same health center. But staff also hope to reach drug users who have proven hardest to reach, with support for wider healthcare, housing and benefits also available.
“The key to this service will be the relationships we build,” says Lynn Macdonald, Thistle’s service manager. “Our job is for people to feel safe and trust us.”