A facility where users can inject drugs under the supervision of nurses is due to open in Glasgow on Monday after nearly a decade of debate over how to deal with the city’s unwanted status as Europe’s capital of drug-related deaths.

Offering hot drinks and a lounge area with sofas, as well as injection booths, the Safer Drug Consumption Facility is the first of its kind in Britain and follows similar initiatives in other cities around the world, including New York.

Those using the facility, which has been named the Thistle after Scotland’s national symbol, will bring their own drugs. Staff will not administer injections but will be on hand to monitor safety.

How will the drug consumption room work?

The new facility, which will be open all year round, has a reception and waiting room, a separate area with individual cubicles where injections can be carried out, a recovery area and an aftercare area where advice will be offered by charities and support organisations.

Users will have access to clean syringes, needles and swabs, and will be assigned one of eight cubicles.

Lynn Macdonald, head of services at Thistle, told Scottish public broadcaster STV that customers “don’t have to show us what drugs they’re going to use”. But they will be asked to do so, she added, “so that we can talk to them about reducing the damage.” There will be nurses in the use area to supervise the injections.”

Each booth has a mirror that is slightly angled so that staff can safely watch the injection taking place without being too close to the person. “This also gives them a bit of dignity,” Ms Macdonald said. “That’s the key to this service – that people are treated with respect and dignity when they come here.”

The Scottish government is funding the initiative by providing £2 million, or about $2.4 million, a year.

What do the organizers hope to achieve and why in Glasgow?

Now they exist more than 100 drug use rooms around the world, researchers say, including in Europe, Canada, the United States and Australia. Supporters say such facilities reduce the risk of overdose and infection, reduce the cost of acute hospital admissions and connect users with health care providers who can offer drug addiction treatment.

In Scotland, which has the highest rate of drug-related deaths on record in Europe, milk thistle is considered one of the answers to the long debate about how to fight the harm of drugs. In 2023, 1,172 people died from drug abuse — a 12 percent increase from the previous year.

Opioids such as heroin, morphine and methadone were the most common drugs associated with deaths, implicated in 937 deaths.

In 2015, there was a significant outbreak of HIV in Glasgow, particularly among those who injected drugs in public places. The virus has been linked to homelessness and injecting in public spaces, according to Glasgow City Council.

Calls for a safe drug use facility gained momentum following a 2016 report estimated that around 400 to 500 people were regularly injecting drugs in Glasgow city centre, increasing the risk of infection and causing a wider danger to the public from discarded equipment including needles.

The city council said research had shown such facilities reduce drug-related harm, including overdose and death and the transmission of infectious diseases, and produced “overall cost savings” by reducing the number of calls to health services and the time spent by doctors. police and courts in dealing with drug-related problems.

The Glasgow initiative marks a significant, if contested, moment for UK drug policy after years of debate over how to reduce overdoses and get consumption off the streets. The drug laws covering Scotland are made by the British Parliament in Westminster, but are enforced by the Scottish courts, which have their own system.

The new facility became legally possible after Scotland’s highest barrister, known as the Lord Advocate, he said that it would not be in the public interest to prosecute users for possession of illegal drugs in a facility for safe consumption.

The British government said it respects that decision and will not interfere with the Glasgow project. While he says he will monitor the results of the initiative, he says there are no plans to reintroduce such schemes in England or Wales.

What do the critics say?

Some local residents oppose the opening because they fear it could lead to the spread of drug trafficking in the area.

Other critics worry that it will be counterproductive. One charity, Faces & Voices of Recovery UK, said in statement that there is “nothing beautiful in offering people a place to continue destructive behavior that keeps them trapped in cycles of chaos, coercion and despair”.

By focusing on consumption rather than recovery, it added, “these rooms send a devastating message: ‘We don’t believe you can get better.'”

But Scotland’s first minister, John Swinney, welcomed the opening, saying in a statement on Friday that “while this facility is not a silver bullet, it is another significant step forward and will complement other efforts to reduce harm and death.”