{"id":20518,"date":"2025-01-21T14:19:15","date_gmt":"2025-01-21T15:19:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/medexperts.pro\/?p=20518"},"modified":"2025-01-21T16:25:30","modified_gmt":"2025-01-21T16:25:30","slug":"first-drug-consumption-room-user-figures-revealed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/?p=20518","title":{"rendered":"First drug consumption room user figures revealed"},"content":{"rendered":"
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More than 130 people used the UK’s first drug consumption clinic in the facility’s first week.<\/p>\n

The Safer Drugs Consumption Facility in Glasgow opened on 13 January<\/a>, letting people take substances under supervision. <\/p>\n

Cllr Allan Casey, the city convener for addiction services, said it had been an “intense first week” for staff, with 131 users. <\/p>\n

There were no medical emergencies resulting from drug use within the facility – known as the Thistle – in the first seven days.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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It is hoped that the clinic can reduce fatal and non-fatal overdoses<\/a> by providing a safe and clean place for people to use drugs, while also giving people further support to cope with their addiction.<\/p>\n

As well as safer injecting facilities, users were provided with wound care, clean injecting equipment and naloxone as required. <\/p>\n

A spokesperson for the facility said some users had already engaged with housing and drug treatment support.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Cllr Casey added that the clinic had made a “promising start” since opening.<\/p>\n

He added: “It’s been an intense first week for the team as all eyes are on Glasgow. <\/p>\n

“I am delighted to hear people are making use of all the facilities available at the Thistle.<\/p>\n

“We know this is not a silver bullet – but having a facility that is safe, hygienic and medically supervised will go a long way towards reducing drug-related overdoses, injection-related wounds and infections, and the negative impact that injecting outdoors has on local communities.”<\/p>\n

The facility was first proposed for Glasgow in 2016 but years of debate between the Scottish and UK governments than ensued.<\/p>\n

The facility was finally approved in the autumn of 2023<\/a>, with running costs expected to reach nearly \u00a37m over the next three years.<\/p>\n

It is situated in the city’s Hunter Street, next to a clinic where 23 long-term drug users are currently prescribed pharmaceutical heroin.<\/p>\n

A previous report by the NHS estimated approximately 400 to 500 people” used drugs publicly in the city centre on a regular basis, while Scotland has consistently had the highest number of drug death overdoses in Europe<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The UK government said in 2023 it did not intend to open any clinics elsewhere, but would not interfere in the Glasgow plan<\/a>. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

More than 130 people used the UK’s first drug consumption clinic in the facility’s first week.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":20520,"comment_status":"close","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-20518","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-health"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20518","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=20518"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20518\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20521,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20518\/revisions\/20521"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/20520"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=20518"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=20518"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=20518"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}