GLASGOW'S drug consumption centre is working insists the health secretary.
Neil Gray was giving evidence to the House of Commons Scottish Affairs Committee inquiry into the Thistle Centre.
He said it was saving lives and is not the reason for discarded needles and drug-taking equipment in the surrounding area.
READ NEXT: Glasgow's drug consumption room to come under scrutiny at Westminster next week
The centre, which opened in January, has come under scrutiny in recent weeks with some nearby residents complaining there has been an increase in dumped needles on streets, gardens and waste ground.
Gray defended the facility, stating it has already kept people alive.
He said: “Initial evidence suggests that the facility is proving to be successful.
“It has had seven ambulance call-outs and 35 medical emergencies. In all cases, the service user survived to return.
“Were these service users not within the Thistle, they would not have survived.
“Early evidence is that it is working. I want to see them alive to get onto a recovery journey. Clearly, you can’t get into recovery if you’re dead.”
READ NEXT: Big rise in people taken to hospital in Glasgow for cocaine use
The centre in Hunter Street in the East End is almost six months into a three-year pilot aimed at tackling drug deaths through overdose and blood-borne infection rates in the city.
Gray said: “It’s better that this facility is embedded within the community and has good community outreach.
“It is necessary for a level of trust among those using the facility and those neighbouring it has no exclusion zone, that is the right approach and I support it.
Gray was asked by Elaine Stewart, MP for Ayr, Carrick and Cumnock, about a reported increase in drug paraphernalia, including discarded needles, since the centre opened.
Gray said the Thistle is located in the Calton area because of the historic levels of public injecting over a period of years.
He said: “It has not arrived alongside the Thistle. The policy intention is to see people injecting inside the Thistle, not in the community.
“It’s for the local authority, local ADP and the facility to engage with the community and make sure that where there is discarded paraphernalia, it is cleaned up.
“It has not arrived with the facility. It is why it is there.”
READ NEXT:'Devastating': drug deaths show a huge rise over the last year
Diana Johnson, UK Minister for Drugs, told the committee the UK Government did not support drug consumption facilities and had no plans to change the law.
She said: “We are not going to be amending the Misuse of Drugs Act. We look at the evidence on harm reduction.
“We don’t support drug consumption facilities. It is not our policy to be very clear.”
Share