First room for “safe” drug use to be opened in Scotland
Kyiv • UNN
Thistle facility will be opened in Scotland, where it will be possible to use illegal drugs under the supervision of specialists. The center will be open every day from 9:00 to 21:00 and will provide medical assistance in case of overdose.
In a month, the first official British institution where it will be possible to "safely" use illegal drugs will be opened in Glasgow , Scotland . The Guardianwrites about it and UNN reports .
Details
The pioneering "safe drug use facility" called Thistle will allow people to use illegal drugs purchased elsewhere in a hygienic environment, under the supervision of trained professionals who will provide treatment for injuries and overdoses, as well as offer comprehensive care and referrals to other services. It will be open 365 days a year, from 9 am to 9 pm, and will be located near known public injection sites.
Thistle opens amid what has been called a drug death emergency in Scotland, with Glasgow named the European drug death capital. According to the data, 1,172 people died in 2023, almost a quarter of them in Glasgow.
But project participants emphasize that Thistle was designed to meet the needs of a specific community-people, many of whom are homeless, who use drugs in public in the city center-and that other measures are needed to reduce drug-related deaths.
Plans for a Glasgow center were first proposed a decade ago in response to an outbreak of HIV among injecting drug users, but they were repeatedly blocked by the Home Office under the Conservatives, who argued that such a service would contravene the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971.
There are more than 100 safe drug consumption sites in the world, and not a single death has been recorded in any of them.
