The facility will enable people to consume illegal drugs under the supervision of clinicians, with the goal of reducing fatal and non-fatal overdoses.
How many drug deaths are there in Scotland?
In 2023, there were 1,172 drug misuse deaths registered in Scotland, an increase of 12% (121 deaths) compared with 2022 and up from 319 in 2003.
People in the most deprived areas of Scotland are more than 15 times as likely to die from drug misuse compared to people in the least deprived areas.
Glasgow and Dundee have the highest rates of drug misuse deaths in Scotland.
Drug deaths have been rising sharply over the past decade (Image: NRS) Scotland also has the highest rate of drug deaths in Europe.
In 2023, the rate in Scotland was 277 deaths per million among people aged 15-64, compared to 95 deaths per million people in Estonia (the next worst) and Norway with 86 deaths per million.
In 2022, the drug death rate in Scotland was nearly three times higher than in England or Northern Ireland.
What is a safe drug consumption facility?
Safer Drug Consumption Facilities are supervised and hygienic healthcare settings where people can consume drugs, obtained elsewhere, in the presence of trained health and social care professionals.
The space in Glasgow has booths for up to eight people to safely inject heroin or other drugs at any one time, as well as recovery and aftercare areas, a reception, and consultation rooms.
As well as reducing overdose deaths, it aims to reduce levels of public injecting and discarded syringes.
An artist impression of the facility (Image: GlasgowHSCP)
How much will it cost?
The Scottish government has agreed to make up to £2.3 million a year available for the pilot, with staff being hired in 2024/25.
The service will be run by Glasgow’s Health and Social Care Partnership, who say that no money is being diverted from other services – such as rehabilitation and recovery – to fund it.
The HSCP says that the Safe Drug Consumption Facility will also produce an overall cost saving by reducing the impact on NHS of acute hospital admissions among drug users, for example to treat injecting-related infections such as hepatitis C and HIV.
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When was it first proposed?
Plans for a facility in Glasgow were first proposed a decade ago in response to an HIV outbreak among people injecting drugs.
It was opposed by the Home Office, under the Conservative Government, as drug laws are reserved to the UK government who said it would be in breach of the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971.
However, Scotland’s Lord Advocate Dorothy Bain KC sets out the rules on whether prosecutions should take place and, in September 2023, she said it would not be in the public interest to prosecute users of drug consumption rooms for simple possession offences.
Lord Advocate, Dorothy Bain KC (Image: PA) Days later, then-Scottish Secretary Alister Jack said the UK Government would not block the pilot in Glasgow, and Glasgow City Council gave the initiative the green light with the backing of the the Scottish government.
The facility was originally due to open on October 21 2024, but was delayed by NHS Assure building checks to make sure its tap water supply and ventilation were safe.
Do they operate anywhere else?
The world’s first modern, supervised drug consumption site opened in Bern, Switzerland in June, 1986.
More than 100 such facilities are now in operation across Europe, Australia and Canada.
Researchers writing in the Lancet said there is “mounting evidence that [Safe Consumption Facilities] are both highly successful and cost-effective” as a public health response.
Plans for similar pilots in Aberdeen and Dundee are under consideration.