AN MP told how constituents find used syringes on their doorsteps on a “daily basis” yesterday as she launched a bid to open an injection facility.
Alison Thewliss revealed the cost of intravenous drug use on families, health services and police as she urged the government to give permission for the opening of the UK’s first supervised drug consumption centre.
Authorities in Glasgow say the centre would bring drugs off the streets and offer health and social support.
However, drug laws are reserved to Westminster, meaning the facility cannot open without action by ministers to exempt staff, clients and organisers from prosecution under the Misuse of Drugs Act. Yesterday Thewliss introduced a bill aimed at making the change, telling the House of Commons that the city cannot afford the “intangible cost in human lives” that inaction will cause.
An estimated 500 intravenous drug users live in Glasgow, with many having serious health complications after decades of consumption.
Thewliss said: “There is significant cost in not doing this. There is cost in treating the latest HIV outbreak, in treating Hepatitis C and other conditions. There is a cost in emergency hospital admission and ambulance call outs and police time.
“There is significant cost in clearing up discarded needles.”
Adding that many long-term drug users are not in treatment, she went on: “We must try something different. I accept that it may not work, but we must at least try.”
The bill has cross-party support from MPs including Labour’s Ian Murray, Tory Crispin Blunt and Lib Dem Alistair Carmichael.
On the current situation, Thewliss said: “One of my constituents mentioned to me on Monday that Glasgow already has drug consumption facilities – they’re behind the bushes near his flat, they’re in his close when it rains. Right now they’re also in bin shelters, on filthy waste ground and in lonely back lanes. They’re in public toilets and stolen spaces where intravenous drug users can grasp the tiniest modicum of dignity and privacy.
“We can and we must do much better than that,” she added.
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