Drug consumption rooms ‘ready to go in Glasgow’ as legal pledge awaited

DRUG consumption rooms “are ready to be opened in Glasgow” on the condition nobody will face prosecution for working in them, it was reported.

Councillor Mhari Hunter, convener of health and social care in Glasgow, said the plans for drug consumption rooms have approval from Glasgow City Council and the health board, with funding already in place.

She said that the city is now ready to move ahead with the plans “as soon as we get the green light”, highlighting the community support for the project in Scotland’s largest city.

The councillor is just waiting for a guarantee from the UK Government that no-one will be at risk for prosecution for allowing drugs to be taken on their premises, before moving to formal consultations with local people and opening rooms up.

Cllr Hunter said: “Glasgow is very well prepared to deliver a safe consumption/overdose prevention space as a central part of a continuum of services for drug users. We continue to develop our services, most recently with partnership working to develop drug-checking services. But a safe consumption facility is a vital missing link, not only in terms of reducing fatalities – though this is vital – but in enabling those further away from treatment to connect with services in a safe and welcoming space.

“Glasgow’s Integration Joint Board has already approved plans in principle and allocated funding.

“Officers have continued to work on plans, despite the refusal of UK ministers to support them, including developing draft Standard

Operating Procedures.

“We are ready to go as soon as we get the green light.”

Angela Constance, the Minister for Drug Policy, said on Tuesday that the Scottish Government was ready to approve drug consumption rooms in Scotland – even if the UK Government does not change drug laws.

Councillors Hunter and Allan Casey have written to Angela Constance to let her know Glasgow is ready and “stands ready to implement a safe consumption facility”.

Ms Constance’s statement to the Scottish Parliament read: “We are committed to implementing those, irrespective of the constitutional opportunities or the constitutional constraints that we face.” Meanwhile, Campaigners for the project said any facility must come with access to other services straight away and that it “can’t be a vanity project”.

Annemarie Ward, of Faces and Voices of Recovery (Favor)

Scotland, said: “In other cities across the world, people who use DCRS have access to a variety of different high-quality services including proper rehab and mostly on the same day.

“This can’t be a vanity project in the town, DCRS have to be in communities where people are dying.”