An opening date has been announced for Scotland’s first ever safer drug consumption facility in Glasgow.
The facility will officially open on Monday, January 13 2025, it will be known as The Thistle and will be housed at Hunter Street in the east end.
The facility will allow drug users to take illegal substances under medical supervision with the hopes they will seek further support to tackle their addiction.
It was hoped the facility could open last year, but final checks to the water and ventilation systems pushed its opening back.
Councillor Allan Casey, the City Convener for Workforce, Homelessness and Addiction Services, confirmed the facility will open to service users on Monday, January 13 following completion of the necessary testing.
He said: “We are obviously delighted that the required tests have now concluded, and the facility can open on Monday, 13 January. We have been pushing for a safer drug consumption facility for some time. It’s a welcome relief to know we can finally have people in to access the service and support available within the Thistle.
“We know from all the other safer drug consumption rooms in operation across the world that they do make a difference.”
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The facility was approved by NHS and council officials on the Glasgow City Integration Joint Board (IJB) in September 2023, after Lord Advocate Dorothy Bain KC said it would not be in the “public interest” to prosecute people in a safer drugs consumption room with possession of illegal substances.
The centre already provides a heroin assisted treatment service.
Consumption rooms were first proposed in the city in 2016 following an HIV outbreak among drug users, but became entangled in years of political wrangling.
A report put to the IJB estimated 400 to 500 people inject drugs in public places in the city centre regularly.
The Thistle will operate daily from 9am to 9pm, 365 days of the year.
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