Welcome to the Thistle – the UK’s first and only drug consumption room.
After nearly a decade of deadlock and wrangling over drug laws the centre is finally ready to open.
On Monday it will welcome its first clients who will come in to inject illegally-bought heroin or cocaine under medical supervision.
The Thistle is based in Glasgow’s east end, where there is a high population of users who take drugs in public.
Funded by the Scottish government, its aim is to reduce overdoses and drug-related harm as well as making drug use less visible to the community.
Users not prosecuted
Drug laws are set at Westminster but are enforced by the Scottish courts.
This scheme can only go ahead because Scotland’s senior prosecutor, the Lord Advocate, announced a change in policy which meant users would not be prosecuted for possessing illegal drugs while at the facility.
The UK government said it had no plans to introduce other consumption rooms but it would not interfere in the Glasgow project.
Some local residents are against the plan, saying they think it will bring more dealing to the area, and an addictions charity claimed it would “encourage people to harm themselves.”
BBC Scotland News was given a tour of the facility.
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