Slumped in a doorway surrounded by drugs paraphernalia an addict lies collapsed in a drug-induced haze.
Yards away are grassy areas littered with drugs ‘debris’ – hypodermic needles and heroin pipes.
Just around the corner, and, sadly with more than a hint of irony, is the SNP’s £2.3 million ‘harm reduction’ center that was opened to prevent this very thing from happening.
During his visit in January, John Swinney enthusiastically declared Britain’s inaugural safer drugs consumption room as a ‘significant progression’ in addressing Scotland’s dreadful record of harm and fatalities resulting from drug use.
Despite this, local residents and businesses describe the area as a ‘living hell’ and are considering leaving due to the daily sight of drug users injecting in public, abandoned needles littering the neighborhood, and drug-related activities.
The facility in question is The Thistle, officially referred to as a ‘safer drugs consumption room’. Those less supportive of its operation say it is nothing more than a heroin ‘shooting gallery’.
It allows addicts to inject their own drugs under medical supervision in a bid to reduce overdose deaths and cut discarded needles in public places.
Such is the SNP government’s support for the venture they have committed to backing it with £2million of public cash – every year.
A drug userlies hopelessly slumped in a doorway in an area near the new facility
Specially-designed needle bins have been installed but the issue of dirty syringes continues
First Minister John Swinney and Glasgow City Council leader Susan Aitken visited the Thistle Centre Safer Drugs Consumption Facility in January
However, for many living and working in the area, its opening has been far from a positive development.
Many believe the problem of addicts openly taking drugs in the streets has increased as well as the proliferation of dirty needles being discarded in their neighbourhoods and drug dealing.
This week the Mail on Sunday visited the area to speak to residents and businesses and see first-hand the situation they find themselves in.
It did not take long to understand why they are angry.
In a patch of grass facing a row of houses a pile of litter was the first sign of drug use.
Wrappers for needles, handed out by health professionals, lie next to state-issued ‘foil’ – provided to addicts to help them take a hit safely.
Elsewhere we find dirty needles, used and discarded where anyone, including children, could suffer a needlestick injury.
Even in areas where specially-designed needle bins have been installed there are still used syringes lying in the open.
The issue of dirty needles being discarded by drugs addicts has enraged locals
We also encountered faeces-covered clothing discarded in areas littered with dirty needles.
One addict, having finished shooting up, had chosen to stick their dirty syringe into the grass where they’d been sitting – a health threat left for others to deal with.
No wonder local people are furious at the situation.
Resident Vanessa Paton said: ‘I have sympathy for these people but they’re not interested or responsible and this room is just facilitating their addiction. They’re saying this project is in its infancy, but it’s already like Beirut, it’s like living in a war zone.
‘It’s like the day of the living dead and we’re being told this is normal and the project is working. You’re encouraging and enabling people, not helping anyone to come off drugs.’
Martin Keown, is the director of Calton M.O.T. Centre, which is just a four-minute walk from The Thistle.
He said: ‘Since that building was opened, our car park space has become overrun by addicts and their needles. It’s also become a dumping ground for all the drugs kits containing needles, alcohol swabs, and foil spoons.
‘Even though I’ve spent £18,000 to install a new fence and a solid steel gate at my own expense, users are still jumping over the fence to hit up in my yard. They’re leaving used needles, and sometimes even fully loaded needles that are ready to go.’
Martin Keown, the director of Calton M.O.T. Centre, has spent £18,000 on a new fence and a solid steel gateto try and stop drug addicts shooting up in his car park
He added: ‘A few months ago we found two fully loaded needles propped up against the fence posts like pencils, as if the addicts set them up to use but then got distracted.
‘My kids found it and said: “Dad we’ve just found something bad that looks like blood in the yard.” They’re nine and six.’
Footage filmed inside the car park shows an addict brazenly perched against a car, as he prepares to inject himself in the open despite being less than 200 yards from the taxpayer-funded facility designed for that very purpose.
The locals who encounter, challenge and talk to some of the addicts who engage in this behaviour say there are numerous reasons why they are still taking drugs in the open.
Some have said they will not go to the centre as they distrust the authorities, while others say they need to get their fix immediately after buying drugs, without having to walk to Hunter Street where The Thistle is based.
Linda Watson, 68, is a community activist, who was raised in the area.
She said: ‘A lot of users are not using the actual facility. They are coming here simply because they know there’s a supply here. We’re just being used as guinea pigs, we’re part of a big experiment and there’s no-one here to support us. The drug littering has been diabolical, some hit spots ended up with a total carpet of paraphernalia and syringes.’
Signs have been placed at areas where addicts regularly inject in the open in an attempt to direct them to the safer drugs consumption room
‘I love where I live, we were all brought up here, but people just don’t feel safe anymore. People are publicly injecting themselves, they don’t even try to hide it.’
She added: ‘A few weeks ago there was someone sitting in the play park when kids are cutting through to get to school, with his trousers down blatantly shooting up.’
The impact of is making it harder for some businesses to operate.
Janet Rogers, 55, started working in Bobbi D’s salon on nearby Gallowgate in 1989 and worked her way up till she eventually took it over.
She said: ‘A lot of older people come to me because my business has been going for so long. But a lot of them don’t want to come out now because they’re scared. They’re getting intimidated by dealers and users – there’s loads of them just hanging about, lurking.
‘They’re getting in the closes beside the shop. I’ve seen plenty of shooting up, they leave needles and tin foil lying about outside the shop, it’s terrible.’
Ms Rogers fears she will have to close up as a result of the issues she is facing.
She added: ‘This shop has been my whole life and I just feel totally burnt out with it all, it’s just soul-destroying.’
Janet Rogers has said she feels she will have to sell her salon because of the issue
The idea behind The Thistle is that by allowing addicts to inject their own drugs under medical supervision, the number of people suffering an overdose can be reduced as well as the number of discarded needles.
However, in light of our investigation, the Scottish Conservatives have called for the SNP administration to end its ‘reckless experiment’.
MSP Annie Wells, who acts as the party’s drugs spokeswoman, said: ‘The SNP’s flagship drug consumption room is making life a misery for local residents and businesses.
‘They pinned all their hopes on state-sponsored drug taking, but their solution is failing. Locals are being left to clean up the SNP’s mess.
‘If the Nationalists continue down this road, businesses near The Thistle will be left with no choice than to sell up and move away.
‘SNP ministers should call time on this reckless experiment and finally back the game-changing Right to Recovery Bill, which would enshrine in law a right to treatment.’
The Thistle, which has already seen more than 250 addicts use its facilities to inject more than 3,000 times in total, is run by Glasgow City Health and Social Care Partnership.
Councillor Allan Casey, city convener for addictions, said: ‘We understand the ongoing concerns from residents. We have a community forum set up and running specifically for residents and businesses to attend to allow us to hear directly from them and take necessary actions.
‘However, to suggest crime and drug use are new problems in this community is a blatant denial of decades of challenges this community has faced.
‘The Thistle is not the cause of these issues — it is part of the solution. In fact, the Thistle has undoubtedly saved lives that would have otherwise been lost thanks to the intervention of staff.’
The Scottish Government said it recognises people’s concerns and that its partners ‘are addressing them through outreach work, ongoing needle uplift operations, and plans to expand public needle disposal bins’.
It also said ‘a comprehensive independent evaluation’ will examine the service’s impact and that research and evaluation from similar facilities around the world has shown such facilities ‘can reduce levels of public drug consumption and publicly discarded drug-related litter’.
