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veggie

Registered: 07/25/04
Posts: 17,501
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Glasgow gets go-ahead to open UK’s first drug consumption room
#28484972 - 09/27/23 04:51 PM (3 months, 29 days ago) |
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Glasgow gets go-ahead to open UK’s first drug consumption room September 27, 2023 - The Guardian
Cities across Scotland considering similar addiction schemes as plans approved for Hunter Street facility
Cities across Scotland are considering setting up their own safe injecting facilities after authorities in Glasgow gave the official go-ahead to the UK’s first drug consumption room.
“All eyes are on Glasgow,” said Allan Casey, Glasgow city council’s addictions convener, after the plans were approved on Wednesday morning by a joint committee of NHS and council officials.
“We know from experience that networks of safe injecting facilities are what is needed and we would be more than happy to work with other cities. I’m already having questions from different cities around the country looking to learn from us about opening one.”
He added: “Glasgow has a huge responsibility to demonstrate the concept works here in Scotland.”
The proposal – which would allow addicts to take their own drugs in a clean and safe environment under the supervision of health professionals – had been discussed for years, but can now be piloted after Scotland’s most senior law officer confirmed users would not be prosecuted.
Casey said the pilot was “the missing jigsaw piece in the full suite of services required to really make a difference in reducing drugs deaths in the city”. But he acknowledged funding was also needed for wider services such as recovery cafes and residential rehab.
The committee also revealed it hoped to offer voluntary drug testing at the facility, where people could check the quality of their street-bought drugs before using them.
Campaigners believe such a pilot could play an essential role in efforts to tackle Scotland’s chronic and epidemic drug fatality rates, which remain almost three times higher than for the UK as a whole. Glasgow city council’s area had the highest rate of drug misuse deaths in Scotland over the past four years.
Susanne Millar, the chief officer for Glasgow Health and Social Care Partnership, said after the committee meeting that the need for a safe injecting facility was first seriously considered in 2015.
“I’m delighted about where we’ve got to today,” she said, adding that global evidence for the potential positive impact of such a facility, especially in tackling drug deaths, kept growing.
The council said it hoped to have staff in place at the health centre on Hunter Street in the east end of the city by April next year after building work and further public engagement.
Saket Priyadarshi, associate medical director of Glasgow alcohol and drug recovery services, said there was convincing evidence of community benefit from consumption rooms and that many local businesses and residents were “asking why hasn’t this been progressed”.
Priyadarshi already runs Glasgow’s pioneering enhanced drug treatment facility – which provides addicts with pharmaceutical-grade heroin – out of the same health centre.
He said the council had identified a population of 400-500 people who were injecting drugs in public areas in the city centre and that the increased popularity of injecting cocaine as well as heroin was resulting in more discarded needles and syringes, as well as more frequent wound infections.
Priyadarshi said the new facility would include about eight injection booths and a relaxed aftercare area where people could engage with support workers. The Scottish government has guaranteed funding up until 2027, when the pilot will be evaluated.
On Wednesday night the home secretary, Suella Braverman, criticised the granting of approval for the drug consumption room.
Braverman told ITV: “My view is it’s the wrong policy and I don’t support the policy of drug consumption rooms. I don’t believe they deal with the root cause of addiction and drug dependency. So I would not support that policy.”
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durian_2008
Cornucopian Eating an Elephant



Registered: 04/02/08
Posts: 16,666
Loc: Raccoon City
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Re: Glasgow gets go-ahead to open UK’s first drug consumption room [Re: veggie]
#28485901 - 09/28/23 03:38 PM (3 months, 28 days ago) |
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Disregarding the old wisdom of keeping a red light district separate from innocent bystanders is automatically going to look like a social failure in the eyes of those who don't want to know about it.
They always violate rule one of cognitive liberty, which is akin to the prime directive:
Quote:
In the fictional universe of Star Trek, the Prime Directive (also known as "Starfleet General Order 1", and the "non-interference directive") is a guiding principle of Starfleet that prohibits its members from interfering with the natural development of alien civilizations. Its stated aim is to protect unprepared civilizations from the danger of starship crews introducing advanced technology, knowledge, and values before they are ready.
Quote:
Sententia divides the practical application of cognitive liberty into two principles:
As long as their behavior does not endanger others, individuals should not be compelled against their will to use technologies that directly interact with the brain or be forced to take certain psychoactive drugs.
As long as they do not subsequently engage in behavior that harms others, individuals should not be prohibited from, or criminalized for, using new mind-enhancing drugs and technologies.
These two facets of cognitive liberty are reminiscent of Timothy Leary's "Two Commandments for the Molecular Age", from his 1968 book The Politics of Ecstasy:
Thou shalt not alter the consciousness of thy fellow man
Thou shalt not prevent thy fellow man from altering his own consciousness.
The right to non participation.
Edited by durian_2008 (09/28/23 03:46 PM)
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viraldrome



Registered: 09/21/18
Posts: 4,049
Loc: Parts Unknown
Last seen: 39 minutes, 57 seconds
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Re: Glasgow gets go-ahead to open UK’s first drug consumption room [Re: veggie] 2
#28486736 - 09/29/23 12:47 PM (3 months, 27 days ago) |
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Quote:
veggie said:
“I’m delighted about where we’ve got to today,” she said, adding that global evidence for the potential positive impact of such a facility, especially in tackling drug deaths, kept growing.
...
Saket Priyadarshi, associate medical director of Glasgow alcohol and drug recovery services, said there was convincing evidence of community benefit from consumption rooms and that many local businesses and residents were “asking why hasn’t this been progressed”.
...
He said the council had identified a population of 400-500 people who were injecting drugs in public areas in the city centre and that the increased popularity of injecting cocaine as well as heroin was resulting in more discarded needles and syringes, as well as more frequent wound infections.
None of that is correct. I live near Calgary injection room and that place has done zero to reduce needle debris, they hand out lots in the name of "harm reduction" but they increase harm to the neighborhood. Its an outright lie that communities in canada support these places. This is what the Yaletown site in Vancouver Canada looks like 24/7, they hose the sidewalk down once in a while

Overdose rates in western canada have never been higher, i disagree these places lower them. Every time i look at the data the enablers present its always cherry picked stats in papers by PhD students. The crime rate didn't go down that's laughable, if you found a stat like that its because people stopped reporting it. There is an addict crime wave here and the closer you are to the government shooting gallery the more at risk your property is. There is no business in this area that thinks the supervised injection room is a good thing, and the only residents you find who will say so are lying, for political reasons. The people who support the place, never, ever, live anywhere near it.
Yes they have heroin over there in UK not fent and its different here, but they will get synthetic opioids too eventually, its a 24/7 drug they can't can't walk a block with out doing more.
-------------------- Lysergamides I have tried so far: 1P-LSD, 1cP-LSD, ALD-52, AL-LAD, LSZ, ETH-LAD, MIPLA, EIPLA, 1cP-AL-LAD
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durian_2008
Cornucopian Eating an Elephant



Registered: 04/02/08
Posts: 16,666
Loc: Raccoon City
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Re: Glasgow gets go-ahead to open UK’s first drug consumption room [Re: viraldrome]
#28487899 - 09/30/23 03:39 PM (3 months, 26 days ago) |
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None of us should want drug users to be typified this way.
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