Glasgow 'ready' for safe drug consumption room

Glasgow is ready to open a safe consumption room for drug users, the city’s health convener is to tell the Scottish Government.

Cllr Mhairi Hunter said funding is in place and the city is “very well prepared” to deliver an overdose prevention space, but need assurances that staff will not be at risk of breaking the law to progress further with the plans.

It comes after drugs minister Angela Constance MSP said the Scottish Government was “committed” to setting up consumption rooms — a plan which has previously been stopped by the UK Home Office, with drugs policy a matter reserved to Westminster.

Last week, National Records of Scotland figures revealed 291 people in Glasgow lost their lives to drugs in 2020. Across Scotland, there were a record 1,339 drug deaths.

'Ready to go'

Cllr Hunter and Cllr Allan Casey are now sending a letter to the drugs minister to outline the council’s position and show “how keen we are to help”.

“Glasgow’s Integration Joint Board has already approved plans in principle and allocated funding,” Cllr Hunter said.

“Officers have continued to work on plans, despite the refusal of UK ministers to support them, including developing draft standard operating procedures.

“We are ready to go as soon as we get the green light.”

Glasgow City Council passed a motion, proposed by Cllr Hunter, in 2018 which supported a drug consumption facility. It said the council expected “any facility would provide services and support to ensure a pathway out of drug dependency”.

But the Home Office response said there was “no legal framework” in the UK for the facilities and it had “no plans to introduce them”.

Activist Peter Krykant has already operated a drug consumption van in Glasgow, providing a safe place for users to inject under supervision, despite the threat of prosecution.

Paul Sweeney, a Labour MSP for Glasgow, worked with Mr Krykant in his overdose prevention van. He said the activist’s work has been a “breakthrough”, showing that a facility can operate within the law.

Sweeney is currently working on a members’ bill on licensing overdose prevention centres, he said, and has had a “constructive” meeting with Constance over drugs policy.

He believes a facility can be opened without sign off from the Home Office and that once open they should provide a “holistic” offer.

This could include drugs testing and access to GPs, social workers and psychologists.

“If they want to access therapies or rehabilitation services, they can easily do that,” he said.

The Scottish Government has previously said the rooms can’t legally be opened without a change to the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971, but others have argued the Lord Advocate could allow a facility to operate without facing prosecution.

Cllr Hunter described a safe consumption room as a “vital missing link”.

“Not only in terms of reducing fatalities — though this is vital — but in enabling those further away from treatment to connect with services in a safe and welcoming space.”

Plans for a safe consumption space have been “carefully built both on evidence of need in the city” and “very robust international evidence of what works”.

“We also have strong cross-party political support across the city,” Cllr Hunter said.

“We have public support and we have support from local media, so we have every reason to be confident that the majority of Glaswegians will welcome this initiative. Glasgow is ideally placed to lead on this.

“What we need to progress further is an assurance that staff will not be putting themselves at risk of breaking the law by providing this service.

“This assurance will be required by the board, by trade unions representing staff, and by staff themselves.”

The city’s alcohol and drug partnership is also working with the University of Stirling to explore how drug checking services can be developed to reduce harms.

It could allow people to hand in drugs for testing by professionals, who can provide information on potency and purity as well as access to support services.

Council leader Susan Aitken said Cllr Hunter has been “leading work to put the resources, infrastructure and crucially coalition of support in place for fast delivery of a safe consumption/overdose reduction facility” once legal barriers are removed.

“Feels like we are now a significant step closer to that,” she added.

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