RECOVERING addicts claimed Scotland’s new drug consumption room was a “waste of time” on its opening day – and feared it could tempt some back into the grip of illicit addiction.
The Thistle Centre in Glasgow’s East End became the first facility in the UK to allow addicts to shoot up heroin and cocaine without the fear of prosecution.
Recovering addicts have branded Scotland’s new drug consumption room as a ‘waste of time’[/caption]
Drug users can take substances under supervision without fear of prosecution[/caption]
The unit at the Hunter Street Health Centre is yards from a recovery unit where pharmaceutical-grade diamorphine is dished out twice a day to the most severely addicted people to try and wean them off the killer narcotics.
And two addicts who use the Enhanced Drug Treatment Service told the Scottish Sun that putting that kind of temptation next door to a drying out clinic was farcical.
They also said getting medically dragged out of any kind of fix using naloxone would lead them to extreme and dreaded withdrawal symptoms – and they also feared police would nab them for carrying around the centre.
One user, who visited the centre yesterday morning for diamorphine, said: “We told them this was a waste of time.
“I’m at Hunter Street to try and break my addiction, not to maintain it using street drugs in a room ten yards away.
“Also why would I want someone to naloxone me out of it. I’ll just need to go back on the street again and start from scratch. Who’s going to do that?”
Another said: “Unless you are in the immediate area, using this place is a no-no.
“Why would guys travel from a homeless unit across the city carrying drugs and take the risk of getting pulled by the police?
“It’s a nice idea in theory but it hasn’t fully understood what addicts do.”
Councillor Allan Casey, who convenes Glasgow City Council’s addiction services, said that during the course of Monday the number of people using the facility was “into double figures”, with some people coming back “multiple times”.
He added: “And first and foremost, there have been no incidents today, which is what the service is all about, making sure that people are safe.”
Meanwhile, a police source said the guidance on how to deal with people using the drug consumption room was ‘as clear as mud’ with fears over the safety of staff and users.
While the Lord Advocate Dorothy Bain has confirmed nobody will be prosecuted for possession within the facility, the law remains unchanged everywhere else.
A source said: “There is no guidance on overdose cases at the facility, no information on security at the facility or staff safety which has to be a real concern.”
The insider said that officers “won’t be going in” to the drugs facility “unless called”, but said: “I think we will be called regularly.
“It’s like the soup kitchen that was under the Hielanman’s Umbrella in the city centre – constant trouble because so many service users have issues with each other.”
The insider said that if officers did stop and search near the facility, cops could easily rack up drug cases – but it appeared the informal policy was for cops to not stop and search near to the fix room.
They added: “Regardless of policing this facility, possession has basically been decriminalised anyway, across the country, because we give warnings for the majority of drug possession incidents – even for class A drugs.”
