‘It’s getting worse’: Locals speak out against drug consumption room

Local residents have criticised Scotland’s first drug consumption room for worsening problems associated with drug-taking in the area.

People living near to the Scottish Government-funded facility in Glasgow have raised concerns over an increase in the number of used needles littering the streets since it was launched in January.

The Thistle, situated in The Calton district, is open seven days a week and has effectively been declared a ‘prosecution-free drug zone’ by Scotland’s Lord Advocate.

‘No-go war zone’

Speaking to Sky News, former council worker Vanessa Paton, who lives half a mile away from The Thistle, said: “It is getting worse. The new room has appeared, and the problems have escalated with it. It’s a no-go war zone every day and night.”

She added: “The area’s becoming a toilet. That is the harsh reality of it.”

Local resident Angela Scott commented: “It’s become a lot worse. It’s heightened. I’m scared that if I am picking up my dog dirt am I going to prick a needle.

“Am I going to end up with an infection that a lot of drug addicts tend to have because they are sharing needles? I don’t want to pick up something infectious.”

‘Ideological capture’

First Minister John Swinney claimed: “The Thistle is a safe consumption facility which is designed to encourage people to come off the use of drugs – that’s its purpose. We’ve got to give that venture time to see the impact.”

ideological capture dressed up as care

But Annemarie Ward, CEO of addiction recovery charity FAVOR UK, said locals had told her that things had deteriorated since the facility opened. She added: “These are not abstract policy debates they are real, lived experiences in The Calton. And they’re being brushed aside.”

Ward continued: “Glasgow has a £50 million annual budget for addiction yet you’d struggle to find anyone in recovery who feels that money is reaching the frontlines or offering genuine pathways out of addiction as over 48 million is going into harm reduction interventions and less than 2 million going on recovery orientated pathways and care.”

She stated: “That’s ideological capture dressed up as care”.

Long-standing issues

Recent Government statistics revealed that The Thistle had initially referred just one in seven users to support services such as treatment programmes, benefit and housing schemes.

MSP Annie Wells said Government Ministers had hailed the ‘shooting gallery’ as “a silver bullet to tackle Scotland’s drug deaths crisis”, but noted that “the early signs are not good”.

She stated: “When such a pitiful amount of people are being referred to appropriate services, there is a danger people will continue to be trapped in addiction.”

The MSP for Glasgow added: “Scotland has the worst drugs deaths rate in Europe and yet the SNP are still failing to prioritise treatment.”