Safe drugs room will be Ozsome

Sydney-based nurses support Glasgow move after reversing thousands of ODs

- MARK MCGIVERN

TWO nurses at the heart of supervised drug-injecting services Australia in believe Scotland will save many lives by adopting similar services.

Julie Latimer and Elaine Hogg work on the frontline in Sydney at the Uniting Church's Medically Supervised Injecting Centre (MSIC), which has been established for 22 years.

Both women, from Edinburgh, say the service has stopped countless overdose deaths and helped turn around the lives of many other service users.

The MSIC was last year awarded the Keys of the City in Sydney after reversing more than 11,000 overdoses and helped to take dangerous drug-taking out of back alleys.

Similar services are now in the pipeline for Glasgow after a pilot service was finally rubber stamped.

There are more than 130 supervised injecting facilities operating around the world.