Homeless addicts in Glasgow will be provided with pharmaceutical grade heroin to inject themselves with, in a pioneering scheme intended to combat soaring drug deaths and HIV infection rates across the city.

But medical staff expressed their frustration, as they launched the purpose-built enhanced drug treatment facility on Tuesday, that calls for a safe drug consumption room, which they believe could help hundreds more vulnerable addicts, had been blocked by the Home Office.

Glasgow’s Health and Social Care Partnership’s £1.2m facility is based in the city centre, alongside existing homelessness health services. The pilot project is licensed by the Home Office and the first of its kind in Scotland, but the second in the UK after a similar initiative began in Middlesbrough in October. Individuals referred to it will be given a prescription of diamorphine tailored to their requirements, which they must inject on the premises and under strict supervision.

Patients will take their pre-filled syringe from the dispensary counter to a small booth, furnished with a stainless steel counter, a padded chair and a sharps disposal box, which is screened for privacy but has a mirrored back wall to allow nurses to view their progress.

They will spend around 20 minutes in the booth, and then a further 20 minutes in a nearby seating area where they will be monitored in case of overdose. The facility will hold two injecting sessions each day, morning and afternoon, as well providing oral methadone for night-time use.

While the focus of Tuesday’s launch was inevitably on the radical provision of heroin by NHS Scotland, the facility’s specialist staff were keen to emphasise the intensive nature of the scheme. The frequency of visits – twice daily, seven days a week - means that ongoing relationships are forged with nurses who can then introduce patients to on-site support, including mental and physical health checks and treatment, in particular for those diagnosed with HIV, welfare rights and housing advice. This holistic approach aims to stabilise and reduce drug use.

The facility includes the newest equipment, such as a portable vein finder to reduce wound sites and vascular damage that is common with chronic injecting. Staff also hope that safer behaviour – such a using clean needles and correct injecting technique – will filter out on to the street where Greater Glasgow and Clyde health board saw the highest number of deaths in Scotland last year, at 394.

Dr Saket Priyadarshi, associate medical director and senior medical officer, Glasgow Alcohol and Drug Recovery Services described the facility as “much-needed”.

Findings from international trials suggest that the supervised use of medicinal heroin can be an effective alternative treatment for the small minority of entrenched opioid users who fail to respond to mainstream substitution therapy using methadone or buprenorphine.

“It is only appropriate that, as in other branches of medicine, we can offer addictions patients the next line in treatment,” Priyadarshi said.

But he expressed his “frustration” that plans for a drug consumption room, where addicts can use their own drugs in safer conditions, had stalled, despite support from both Glasgow city council and the Scottish government. Such a facility would require the UK government to either amend the Misuse of Drugs Act or delegate further powers to Holyrood.

“We have new cases of HIV every year and our drug-related death rate is rising too, and the people who are experiencing the most significant harms are those who would benefit from a drug consumption room,” Priyadarshi said.

While the new facility plans to accommodate up to 20 patients by the end of the first year, Priyadarshi argued that a drug consumption room – which specialists describe as “an enhanced needle exchange” – could help many more.



“We have a vulnerable injecting population of 500 to 600 in the city and a drug consumption room is very confident of engaging a high percentage of them. There is a strong evidence base and cross-party consensus now.”







