‘If it’s given out three times daily, users will hang around all day’
THE site of the new HAT centre is a stone’s throw from a busy supermarket, a nursery, student halls and a number of popular Glasgow tourist attractions.
The MoS can confirm for the first time that the controversial clinic is to open on Hunter Street, which runs between Duke Street and the Gallowgate.
At one end of the street is the famous Tennent’s Brewery Visitor Centre and at the other, the Barrowland Ballroom.
Yesterday, local residents and businesses voiced concerns the area would become a hotspot for crime and anti-social behaviour. Jamie Lundie, 37, who owns MOT Centre on Barrack Street, one street away from the centre, said: ‘I don’t think it is a good idea because it is just going to bring more addicts into this community.
‘If it is being given out as often as three times a day, people will hang about all day. There is already an issue with public injecting and prostitution and this will make it worse.
‘They shoot up in a nearby scrapyard and I worry this will get worse.’ Patricia Chapman, 42, an ex-addict who lives nearby, said: ‘It’s terrible. ‘I used to smoke heroin and came off it with methadone and detox. ‘I’m not sure how I would have fared if I knew I could get it on the NHS.’ Fashion student Liene Ozolina, 21, said: ‘This will make me more scared to walk the streets alone, particularly in the dark. ‘I wouldn’t say it is a good idea as so many people will be hanging around before and afterwards.’ An elderly local, who asked not to be named, said: ‘This is not right
because you are encouraging taking drugs.’
Some people remain hopeful it could reduce public disorder.
Shopper Sharon Glenesk, 53, said: ‘I think it would be good for drug users to have somewhere to go so they can feel safe and the nurses there will be able to take the needles and dispose of them properly.
‘If it’s there, and it’s controlled, they do what they need to do and try to rehabilitate them.’
Alison Mackay and Charlie McCarry, from Cumbernauld, who were visiting Barras market, said: ‘The present drug policy isn’t working and these places have been shown to work abroad.
‘It is better to have it in a supervised setting where other support is available. ‘It’s a difficult problem and there are no simple solutions.’