First Drug Consumption Facility Opens
Kaitlin Dryburgh
After much debate and delay, Scotland’s first safer drug consumption facility has opened in Glasgow this week. The Thistle will be open 12 hours a day, seven days a week, providing a clean and safer environment for individuals to take drugs. It will offer sanitary equipment, such as needles, and have staff on hand to intervene in case of an overdose. Additionally, the facility will provide users with information, healthcare, and testing, should they choose to utilise these services. It has taken a long time to reach this point, even though Scotland has adopted a harm reduction approach to drug misuse for some time. It will be fascinating to see the results from such a facility.
Drug consumption facilities—also known as overdose prevention centres—are not a new concept and have been implemented worldwide as part of strategies to reduce drug-related deaths. As of now, no one has died in a drug consumption facility. They are a harm reduction method, though in Scotland, this approach has become increasingly divisive. However, any stance on the drug death debate has become contentious.
Scotland continues to face a public health emergency, with our shameful relationship with drug misuse and deaths remaining unchanged. To describe this issue as “stubborn” would suggest a resistance to change despite measures being taken, yet I am unconvinced that sufficient action or a long-term strategy has been put in place to reduce drug deaths. This year has already reminded us of the work we still need to do, particularly with the revelation that since 2017 1,500 drug-addicted babies have been born in Scotland. We still have one of the highest drug death rates in Europe and struggle to make any meaningful impact on this.
The opening of the Thistle clinic is significant in many ways. It represents a long journey, which really started to get going after activist Peter Krykant converted an old ambulance into a drug consumption facility and fought to keep it running through the Covid-19 pandemic, alongside the complex legal processes involved. Drug misuse is a reserved power, but the option to prosecute lies with the Lord Advocate. Since they indicated that it would not be in the best interest of Police Scotland to prosecute within the facility for possession of drugs, the facility is now able to open.
However, this is by no means a singular solution. Opening a handful of these facilities will not end drug deaths, nor will it assist those who wish to recover, nor will it stop the criminal gangs who profit from the suffering of so many.
Dr Saket Priyadarshi, Associate Medical Director of Glasgow Alcohol and Drug Recovery Services, points out that this facility is just one piece of the jigsaw puzzle in addressing a complex problem. He also addressed critics who believe harm reduction is not best practice, arguing that the money spent on the Thistle facility would be better allocated to recovery options. While I don’t entirely agree with these critics, campaigners for recovery over harm reduction are right to highlight the glaring lack of recovery and rehab options in Scotland. There are countless stories of drug users who are eager to enter rehab but are repeatedly turned away, with some facing life-threatening conditions, such as the risk of amputation. Some even travel to England to access treatment.
One of the key benefits of a drug consumption facility is that it connects individuals who are often isolated from society to assistance. Many addicts are mistrustful of official institutions, and this facility offers a first step in rebuilding that lost connection. For someone who might be ready to choose full recovery, the facility could be their first point of contact, something that would have been otherwise unavailable. However, this advantage is rendered useless if there are no viable rehabilitation options available to them.
If we are serious about shedding our title as the country with the highest drug death rates in Europe, we must offer multiple pathways to recovery. More importantly, we must ensure that people can live happy and healthy lives, and for many, that will include recovery. Harm reduction alone will not be enough, but neither will any other approach.
This brings me to perhaps the most contentious issue: legalisation. Scotland’s drug market is flooded with unstable and dangerous substances, and with the rise of synthetic opioids, the dangers are escalating. Criminal gangs who thrive in this illegal market continue to blight our society, and they will persist as long as drugs remain illegal. Whether someone is imprisoned or there is a major drugs bust makes little difference. In fact, its often the case that the period following a bust often leads to an increase in violence as gangs fight for control over territory.
So, how can we ensure that the drugs on the street are stable and reduce the crime and violence associated with the market? Continuing with the current approach will not resolve our problems. Recreational drug use will never be eradicated. Decriminalisation would prevent the waste of valuable police resources on users and stop the criminalisation of those struggling with addiction, which has proven to be counterproductive. However, it would not make the drug market any safer, and drug gangs would continue operating as they do now. Legalisation, while not without its challenges, is the most viable option. It might seem counterintuitive, but bringing the market out from the shadows and regulating it is our best chance of addressing these issues.
Furthermore, legalisation would help tackle another pressing problem: the lack of reliable data on the scale of drug use in Scotland. In any other industry, we have access to data that indicates usage patterns, but despite drugs being in our communities for decades, we still lack a full understanding of the issue. While health and police data offer some insights, they exclude a significant portion of the population. Legalisation would enable us to gather more information, which in turn would allow for a more effective strategy to reduce drug-related deaths and addiction.
Lastly, one of the most crucial elements of the solution has little to do with drugs at all. Tackling poverty, improving our healthcare and education systems, and ensuring a robust supply of quality social housing would automatically help break the cycle of addiction for many.
Safer drug consumption facilities are an important addition, but there is still much more work to be done.