A disaster waiting to happen” – CSJ verdict on Scottish Government drug facility

Commenting on tomorrow’s opening of the Safer Drug Consumption Facility in Glasgow, Sophia Worringer, Deputy Policy Director at the Centre for Social Justice, said:

“Based on what I have seen in New York – and on the CSJ’s research across the rest of the world – the opening of the UK’s first ever legal drug consumption facility in Glasgow is a disaster waiting to happen.  The evidence in our latest report on illegal drug addiction, “Still Ambitious for Recovery”,  reveals that places which have liberalised drug policy, have not seen the promised results in tackling addiction. The success of the Safer Drug Consumption Facility must be measured on the numbers of people on the pathway to treatment and recovery, wider drug taking in the area, local crime and the police’s ability to enforce the law.

In the absence of a comprehensive rehabilitation programme, the £2.3 million cost of Glasgow’s new drug room is not the best use of limited public health funds as it does nothing to address the root causes of addiction.  It will be the most disadvantaged who will lose out if drug taking becomes more normalised and the introduction of these so-called “shooting galleries” is  a worrying step towards normalisation.”