'All eyes are on us': Britain's first legal drugs 'safe room' to open in Glasgow after 10-year battle

The UK's first legal drug consumption room will open its doors in Glasgow next week after a 10-year battle to realise the pioneering facility.

- Libby Brooks

The Thistle will remain open 365 days a year, from 9am to 9pm, and allow some of the most vulnerable addicts in the East End of the city to take their own drugs, in a clean and safe environment, under the supervision of health professionals.

Such is the level of cross-UK interest that Glasgow city council is coordinating a network of interested cities to lobby the Westminster government for legislative change that could allow further pilot schemes.

But this potentially transformative moment in UK drugs policy takes place with Scotland's drug deaths still the worst per capita in Europe, the equivalent of three people dying every day, as it emerged that more than 1,500 drug-addicted babies have been born in the country since 2017.

The Scottish government has faced anger over its failure to arrest this trend amid the underfunding of residential rehabilitation and wrap-around care to support people getting into medically assisted treatment.

An individual wanting to make use of the Thistle doesn't have to give their full name at the reception desk. A member of staff will have a brief discussion with them about what drugs they are taking and how they plan to use them, before taking them through to a bright open-plan room of eight injecting booths with tilted mirrors so that nurses can keep an eye on users without encroaching on their privacy.