THE head of one of Scotland’s leading drugs charities has called Glasgow’s safe consumption facility “invaluable” and called for a national rollout.

The first such facility in Britain, the Thistle, opened in the city’s Hunter Street in 2025, nine years after Glasgow’s health and social care partnership backed marked by debate over its legality.

Over its first year, the facility in the the city’s east end has seen 11,348 visits by 575 registered people, with 7,827 injections carried out and staff treating 93 medical emergencies.

Glasgow’s drug death rate remains the highest in Scotland, while Scotland itself continues to have the highest rate in Europe, but Kirsten Horsburgh, chief executive of the Scottish Drugs Forum, has called for more safe spaces for people with addiction to inject drugs under medical supervision.

Speaking to rehab provider Abbeycare’s Listen Up podcast, Ms Horsburgh said: “There are a variety of options — mobile units, fixed sites, third sector-run, peer-led facilities. All of these should be on the table.

“I would like to see us get to a point where any service that’s providing injecting equipment would also be able to provide a space for people to use in safe conditions, so that the alternative for people going outdoors … and being discovered some hours later having had an overdose does not occur, and that people are treated with that respect.”

Praising the approach at the Thistle, which include other supports such as shower facilities and clothing, she said: “To have that space is invaluable. It’s taken us so long to get it.

“It’s been really sad to see some of the critique around the service, particularly where people are being linked into interventions that are creating positive change for them in their lives.

“That might be getting into treatment, that might be making links back with their families, that might be getting their housing sorted, it might be getting their benefits addressed — a whole range of different improvements.”

Outreach manager at Abbeycare, and the host of Listen UP, Eddie Clarke said: “To reduce drug-related deaths, we must continue to focus on harm reduction and also on services that are actively helping people overcome and recover from addiction.

“However, we maintain that abstinence-based recovery is the most robust and safest form of harm reduction available.”