A controversial plan to set up the UK’s first so-called “fix rooms” to allow drug addicts to inject safely under supervision in Glasgow is likely to get the go-ahead.
Members of the health board, the city council and police are expected to agree the idea in principle.
The move aims to address the problems caused by an estimated 500 or so users who inject on Glasgow’s streets.
A plan for “heroin-assisted treatment” is also likely to get the green light.
Under that proposal, users would be given medical-grade heroin to inject under supervision.
The proposals are due to be considered by the Glasgow City Integration Joint Board.
The case for opening an injecting facility for drug users in the city was examined by the Glasgow City Alcohol and Drug Partnership (ADP) – a multi-agency group tasked by the Scottish government with tackling alcohol and drug issues.
If such a facility were approved, it would be the first of its kind in the UK.
Similar schemes operate in 10 other countries, including Australia, Germany, France, Holland and Switzerland.
It would mean extending existing opioid substitution therapy services to include heroin-assisted treatment and developing a peer support network for harm reduction.
ADP argues that those who inject on the streets are responsible for the majority of discarded needles which pose a health risk and contribute to public order problems.
It also says street users experience problems such as homelessness, mental health issues and poverty, and are at heightened risk of blood-borne viruses, overdose and drug-related death, as well as other injecting-related complications.
The Scottish Drugs Forum (SDF), a drugs policy and information organisation, has estimated there about 90 similar injecting facilities operating around the world, most of them in Europe.
Recently a Paris hospital started housing France’s first “shooting gallery” – a safe place where drug addicts can inject under medical supervision.
The drug room was opened by the Paris mayor and health minister near the Gare du Nord, a busy station where drug crime is common.
The SDF said the rooms would provide a sterile environment where people could use drugs safely.
The forum’s director David Liddell told BBC Radio’s Good Morning Scotland programme there was a “desperate need” for them, particularly in Glasgow where there is an HIV outbreak among drugs users.
“I know it’s been highlighted as controversial, but when you see that these have been running in many countries in Europe for a long time – Holland for example now has 31 drug consumption rooms and Germany has 24,” he said.
“These are in addition to the existing provision. The key point is we have people who are mostly long-term users – people have been using for more than 20 years or more. Abstinence recovery is not on their immediate horizon.
“The most immediate thing for these individuals is the need to keep them alive so they can recover in the future.”
‘Real danger’
But Prof Neil McKeganey, founder of the Centre of Drug Misuse Research, said Mr Liddell was “quite wrong” to imply the rooms were not controversial.
“For anyone who’s not an advocate of drugs de-criminalisation they are controversial and they will be seen as such,” he told the BBC.
“Some years ago, we surveyed over 1,000 drug addicts in Scotland and we asked them what they wanted to get from treatment.
“Less than 5% said they wanted to help to inject more safely and the overwhelming majority said they wanted help to become drugs free. These facilities have a role to play but there is a real danger here we are moving steadily away from services to get addicts off drugs.”
Dr Emilia Crighton, director of public health at NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde and vice-chairwoman of the ADP, said the organisation had looked at expert evidence from around in the world.
She added: “Nowadays we see that actually that most of Europe is providing addiction services.
“There are safe consumption rooms – Switzerland has a model where there is heroin-assisted treatment and opiates-replacement treatment that satisfies the needs of the population.
“So we really have to find a solution that brings the solutions elsewhere in the world to Glasgow.”
How many discarded syringes have been found where you live?
More than 3,900 discarded needles were reported in nine of Scotland’s largest towns and cities over two years.
The figure was revealed by a series of freedom of information requests to the local authorities covering Aberdeen, Cumbernauld, East Kilbride, Dundee, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Hamilton, Kirkcaldy, Livingston, and Paisley.
You can see where the estimated 3,909 discarded needles were reported, as well as a description of where they were found, using the INTERACTIVE MAP developed by BBC Scotland.