Latest news with #drugconsumption
CNN
12-07-2025
- Health
- CNN
See inside the UK's first safer drug consumption facility
It's been six months since the UK's first and only drug consumption facility opened in Glasgow, Scotland. Designed as a 'safe space' to inject illegally-bought Class A drugs with medical supervision, it's located in a part of the city with a high amount of public drug use. Funded by the Scottish government, the aim is to help reduce fatal overdoses in the country - which has the highest rate of drug-related deaths in Europe, according to Scottish health officials. It follows similar incentives in other European cities, but the idea still remains controversial. CNN visited the clinic to see how it works.
CNN
12-07-2025
- Health
- CNN
See inside the UK's first safer drug consumption facility
It's been six months since the UK's first and only drug consumption facility opened in Glasgow, Scotland. Designed as a 'safe space' to inject illegally-bought Class A drugs with medical supervision, it's located in a part of the city with a high amount of public drug use. Funded by the Scottish government, the aim is to help reduce fatal overdoses in the country - which has the highest rate of drug-related deaths in Europe, according to Scottish health officials. It follows similar incentives in other European cities, but the idea still remains controversial. CNN visited the clinic to see how it works.
The Guardian
20-06-2025
- Health
- The Guardian
Peter Krykant obituary
The drugs policy campaigner Peter Krykant, who has died suddenly aged 48, advanced the cause of the harm reduction movement through a transformative act of civil disobedience. Fitting out a van as a mobile safer drug consumption space and making it available to Glasgow's most vulnerable homeless addicts broke the law. And it also – eventually – broke the stalemate around UK drugs policy, propelled Scotland's drug deaths crisis further up the political agenda and, most importantly, saved lives. Krykant's law-breaking plan coalesced in February 2020 after he attended what he saw as another talking shop – a Scottish government conference focused on drug deaths, which took place 24 hours before a UK government summit on the same subject, at the same Glasgow venue. It seemed to him a ludicrous show of escalating tensions between the two administrations. 'The conferences were the final straw, and the fact that [a drug consumption room pilot] is being used as a political football,' he told the Guardian a week later. 'As a person who went through my own trauma – drug use and street homelessness issues many years ago – I cannot stand back.' Within days of announcing his plan to purchase a vehicle and customise it as a mobile safer-injecting suite, Krykant had raised more than £2,000. He was immediately sacked from his job as an HIV outreach worker at the charity Waverley Care. Undeterred by the looming global Covid pandemic, Krykant recognised that, as services contracted, the homeless drug users who congregated around Trongate in Glasgow were even more in need. So he struck out in the midst of lockdown, first in a minibus nicknamed 'the Tank' and later in a converted ambulance, providing clean water, needles and swabs, as well as supplies of naloxone, the potentially life-saving drug that reverses the effects of opioid overdose. Rules included using your own drugs, and agreeing to an overdose intervention if needed. Writing in the Guardian, Krykant later explained: 'Overdose prevention services are an internationally recognised way of reducing drug-related harms. It benefits everyone by supporting the most vulnerable and saving taxpayers' money on ambulance callouts, hospital admissions and council clean-up teams.' The local police largely tolerated his activity, although he was charged in October 2020 for obstructing officers attempting to search his van – the charges were later dropped. He continued operating until May 2021. More than 1,000 injections were supervised, and nine overdoses reversed. 'It was the trust people had in Peter, the cup of tea and the Mars bar, that really helped them and is hard to quantify,' said the MSP Paul Sweeney, who became a close friend when the pair volunteered together at the van. 'He proved all the naysayers and the procrastinators wrong. He never said it was a silver bullet but Peter knew firsthand the particular risks for people who inject on the street and saw that this intervention could directly save lives.' Krykant was always insistent that addiction should be understood in the wider context of poverty and inequality, a message he took around the doorsteps of his local Holyrood constituency of Falkirk East when he stood for the Scottish parliament elections in May 2021. A Guardian film, which followed his campaign, captures his younger son, aglow with pride, explaining to the producers: 'I've got three reasons you should vote for my dad: because he's honest, reliable and he listens to people's suggestions.' But the responsibility he evidently carried for every individual he helped, the memories they stirred of his own trauma as well as escalating public scrutiny, took their toll and Krykant relapsed. He had talked openly about darker currents in his childhood in the village of Maddiston, near Falkirk; trauma and sexual abuse that would lead him to start taking drugs when he was 11. He left school with no formal qualifications, and by his late teens he was sleeping rough and injecting heroin. But eventually he found support to live drug-free, and worked successfully in sales for over a decade, first in Brighton, and later returning north of the border, where he subsequently trained as an addiction support worker. During this time he married and started a family, taking market research work to fit around caring for his two young sons. Krykant had continued his advocacy work in recent years, passing the van on to the Transform Drug Policy Foundation and embarking on a tour across the UK. Lately he worked at the harm reduction charity Cranstoun, where he developed an overdose response app called BuddyUp and represented the organisation at events around the world. When the UK's first legal drug consumption room, the Thistle, opened its doors in Glasgow this January, there were many who drew a direct line from his minibus to its airy vestibule. Others felt his contribution had been sidelined to make way for more mainstream voices, or that his vulnerabilities had been exploited by those who desired the frisson of his lived experience for their campaigns. This winter, say friends, Krykant found himself at his lowest ebb. His marriage had collapsed, he had lost his job and he was struggling to support himself, worrying about the impact this had on his sons. Martin Powell, who drove the van on its UK tour, said: 'He was the catalyst and without him we might still be waiting. Without question there are people alive today who would not be without Peter Krykant. It's an absolute tragedy that he isn't one of them.' Krykant is survived by his sons. Peter Krykant, campaigner, born 13 November 1976; died 9 June 2025
Sky News
09-06-2025
- Health
- Sky News
Glasgow City Council mobilises digger to clean up drugs den near UK's first safe consumption room
Council chiefs mobilised a digger to clean up a filthy drugs den near the UK's first safe consumption room. Glasgow City Council took action in Calton last week in response to complaints from local residents. The council said discarded needles were safely removed, overgrowth was cut back, and other waste was lifted from the derelict land. Needle bins were also installed at hotspots where public injecting is known to take place. Annemarie Ward, chief executive of Faces and Voices of Recovery UK (FAVOR UK), accused the local authority of "photographing the clean-up like it's some kind of PR victory". Ms Ward added: "What you're really admitting is this - public injecting has become so normalised in Glasgow that the council is now designing around it. "Syringe bins in public parks. Clean-ups in residential streets. Needle management instead of addiction treatment. No detox. No rehab. No recovery. Just managed decline in hi-vis." Sky News' Scotland correspondent Connor Gillies previously visited the area near The Thistle - the UK's first safer drug consumption facility (SDCF). A makeshift drugs den was littered with drug paraphernalia and hundreds of freshly-used needles - with one even stabbed into a tree. Long-term resident Vanessa Paton told of how the area was "becoming a toilet", adding: "It is getting worse. "The new room has appeared, and the problems have escalated with it. It's a no-go war zone every day and night." 2:40 Glasgow City Council has refuted claims of increased crime reports and a rise of injecting equipment in the area since the opening of the SDCF. Councillor Allan Casey, city convener for addiction services, said: "The council has consistently acknowledged the existence of public injecting sites in Calton - a matter that has been ongoing for many years preceding the opening of the Thistle. "One of the primary reasons for establishing The Thistle was to provide a safer environment for users and reduce the presence of discarded needles in public spaces. "In response to these longstanding issues, we have undertaken numerous, comprehensive deep cleans and needle collection operations. "It's wholly inaccurate to suggest this is a recent development linked to the opening of The Thistle. "Our community engagement forum meets regularly to allow residents - and businesses - to raise any concerns they have and allow us to address them appropriately." The SDCF - based at Hunter Street Health Centre - allows users to be able to consume drugs under supervision in a clean and hygienic environment. The pilot is being backed by the Scottish government, with Holyrood pledging up to £2.3m a year for the facility to help tackle the country's drug-related deaths crisis. Data from National Records of Scotland showed there were a total of 1,172 deaths due to drug misuse in 2023 - a rise of 121 (12%) on the previous year. It is hoped the centre will help addicts access wider support to improve their lives, as well as reduce the risk of blood-borne viruses (BBV) such as HIV. The Thistle opened in January. A total of 306 people (248 men and 58 women) have made 3,468 visits to the facility up to 25 May. According to the latest figures, there have been 2,461 injecting episodes and 35 medical emergencies. Click to subscribe to the Sky News Daily Ms Ward, a former addict and now charity boss, helped draft the Scottish Conservatives' Right to Addiction Recovery (Scotland) Bill - which is making its way through Holyrood. Speaking to Sky News, she said the city's east end community had mobilised and was scheduled to hold another public meeting on Monday evening. She said some of the complaints have included older women being too "scared to go to the bingo", with others having "felt unsafe while walking their dogs". Ms Ward said FAVOR UK is not against safer drug consumption rooms in principle, but she does not believe the set-up in Scotland is adequate and would like to see more control handed over from public bodies to the third sector. She claimed the nation's treatment system attempts to "manage and control people's drug use" despite addiction "by its very nature being uncontrollable and unmanageable". Ms Ward added: "We don't have a treatment system that actually provides an exit." A Glasgow City Council spokesperson added: "We fully understand the anxiety caused by discarded needles. If someone reports a discarded needle in a public place we will have it removed within 24 hours. "Various teams are working together to address community concerns about discarded needles in the Calton area."
Daily Mail
04-06-2025
- Health
- Daily Mail
Now health minister backs adding crack room to controversial 'shooting gallery' facility
A heroin shooting gallery may be extended to allow drug users to inhale crack cocaine without prosecution after the controversial move was yesterday backed by Scotland's Health Secretary. Neil Gray told MPs that the existing Glasgow drug consumption room pilot has 'limitations' because it only allows addicts to inject. He said there is 'international evidence' to support extending it to include an inhalation room, and the Scottish Government and Lord Advocate would consider the issue if there is an application by the operator of The Thistle. He also indicated support for considering further drug consumption rooms before the pilot scheme is evaluated. At Westminster's Scottish Affairs Committee yesterday, Mr Gray said: 'I understand because of the changing nature of substance dependency that the current establishment of the facility on an injection facility basis may provide limitations, and there is international evidence to point to the relative success of inhalation facilities.' Bosses of the £2.3million 'safer consumption centre' in Glasgow first outlined proposals to set up an inhalation room for smoking crack cocaine within the facility in March. They hoped this would attract more addicts to the Scottish Government-financed clinic, which is run by the Glasgow City Council and NHS bosses. Laura Zeballos, deputy director of the Scottish Government's drugs policy division, yesterday said: 'There is international evidence that inhalation rooms are standard components of safer consumption facilities, we see that in many of the facilities in Germany, in Denmark and France, where their role in preventing respiratory harm is noted in the evidence base as a result.' Annemarie Ward, chief executive of Faces and Voices of Recovery, said: 'I'm deeply concerned. What Neil Gray is now floating is a further normalisation of drug use, this time by providing a publicly sanctioned space for people to inhale crack cocaine. Let's call this what it is: state-enabled self-destruction. 'The fact that this expansion is even being discussed before there's been any independent analysis of the Glasgow facility's impact should worry everyone. 'We are sprinting ahead with a radical public health experiment while bypassing basic evidence, democratic accountability, and common sense. 'The original injection facility was sold as a tightly controlled pilot — now we're talking about rolling out more sites, even as the drug death toll continues to mount and treatment access remains abysmal. 'We're giving out crack pipes, but we won't fund real rehab. ' Mr Gray said there is interest from other parts of Scotland for drug consumption rooms and they need to come forward with proposals. He said: 'That does not necessitate having to wait until the end of the pilot; that could happen before then.' Scottish Conservative drugs spokesman Annie Wells said: 'Neil Gray needs to drop this reckless plan and urgently confirm that his government will wait for a full report on their flagship facility before agreeing to support any more consumption rooms.' A Home Office minister yesterday said the Labour Government will not support drug consumption rooms and won't change laws to allow more to operate.
