Drug consumption room would be based in Glasgow’s Hunter Street

The proposed safe drugs consumption facility in Glasgow – which would be the first in Scotland – would be based in the city’s Hunter Street, plans state.

Documents presented to Glasgow’s council and health board say it will be open between 9am and 9pm, 365 days a year at the Hunter Street health centre, which already provides a heroin assisted treatment service.

The Scottish Government has agreed to make up to £2.3 million a year available for the safer drugs consumption facility (SDCF) pilot, with staff coming on board in 2024/25.

First proposed in 2016, the facility aims to reduce the harms associated with drug use in public areas.

Earlier this month, the plans moved closer to reality as the Lord Advocate said it would “not be in the public interest” to prosecute people in such facilities for drug possession.

The Home Office also said it would not impede the consumption room pilot from going ahead.

A report going before the Integration Joint Board noted the consumption facility is “likely to polarise opinion”.

It said: “SDCFs have been shown to reduce public injecting and discarded needles, and remove barriers to, and improve the uptake into, treatment and care.”

The report said the Hunter Street site “offers a discrete base, closely located to the city centre, and implementation of the enhanced drug treatment service within the centre has not caused significant challenges for the community”.

Glasgow’s Health and Social Care Partnership will cover the cost of redesigning the building, creating a reception and injecting area with booths as well as treatment rooms and a recovery area.

The report said: “The SDCF will be subject to a robust independent evaluation studying the impact on service users, staff, local communities and businesses, and whether anticipated wider societal benefits such as cost reductions in other services are realised.”