When The Thistle opened its doors in Glasgow’s east end in January 2025, it became the first facility of its kind in the UK. People could bring drugs they had obtained elsewhere and inject them in a clean room, under the eye of nursing and social care staff. Twelve months on, NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde has published the first full set of figures, and they give a clearer picture of who is using the service and what happens there.
According to the health board’s update on 13 January 2026, the facility was accessed 11,348 times in its first year. A total of 575 people registered, 448 men and 127 women, and staff recorded 7,827 injections. Most strikingly, 93 medical emergencies were managed on site.
The Thistle is not only a place to inject. NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde says people can also use showers, get clothing and be referred for treatment and care. Harm reduction services like this are often described as a first point of contact, a door that can open onto very different kinds of help, from NHS addiction services and community recovery groups to residential care and long-term routes into luxury substance abuse treatment. Whether that door is actually being used is one of the questions the first year raises.
Why Glasgow, and why now
The idea is not new. As STV News has reported, a consumption room was first proposed in 2016, following an HIV outbreak in the city. According to aidsmap, the outbreak among people who inject drugs began around 2014 and was detected in 2015. By November 2018, 119 people had been diagnosed, and HIV prevalence among people injecting in the city had risen from just over 1% in 2011 to 10.8% in 2018.
Public injecting was the other driver. A survey of 1,469 people who inject drugs, carried out by researchers from Glasgow Caledonian University, the University of Glasgow and Scotland’s national health protection agency, and reported by aidsmap, found that 47% of those recruited at Glasgow city centre sites had recently injected in public. Public injecting was linked to higher odds of HIV, hepatitis C and overdose. STV News reported an estimate of around 400 to 500 people injecting in public places in the city centre on a regular basis.
The legal path took years. Drug law is reserved to Westminster, and The Week notes that the Home Office opposed the plan. The project went ahead after Scotland’s Lord Advocate stated that it would not be in the public interest to prosecute people for possession of drugs inside the facility.
The wider picture in Scotland
The Thistle’s first year sits against stubbornly high death figures. National Records of Scotland data published on 23 September 2026, as reported by the Press Association, showed 1,133 drug deaths in 2025, an 11% rise on the year before and the sixth-highest total on record. Scotland’s drug poisoning death rate in 2024 was 2.4 times that of England and remains the highest in Europe.
The same release showed cocaine was implicated in 589 deaths, up 23%, and nitazenes, a group of potent synthetic opioids, in 247. Drugs minister Maree Todd pointed to an “increasingly toxic and unpredictable drugs supply”.
What the first-year numbers can and cannot tell us
Headline figures are easy to quote and harder to read. Each number from the first year says something useful, but each also has limits worth keeping in mind.
- Visits: The 11,348 visits show the service is being used regularly, but a visit count says nothing on its own about whether someone’s health or circumstances improved.
- Registered users: With 575 people signed up, the service is reaching a defined group, though it is a fraction of the wider population of people who use drugs in Glasgow.
- Medical emergencies: The 93 emergencies managed on site are events that might otherwise have happened in a stairwell or lane, which is why Maree Todd has said the facility “has undoubtedly saved lives”.
- Referrals: The health board says people can be referred for treatment and care, but the January update does not publish how many referrals were made or what happened next.
- Community effects: Litter, discarded needles, anti-social behaviour and crime are all part of the planned evaluation, so firm conclusions about the surrounding streets are not yet available.
Put simply, the early figures show the service is busy and that staff are responding to overdoses. They do not yet show whether it is changing longer-term outcomes, which is exactly why a formal evaluation is under way.
The case made by supporters
Those running the service are upbeat. Dr Saket Priyadarshi, Associate Medical Director at Glasgow Alcohol and Drug Recovery Services, said the facility “has exceeded any expectations we had for the first 12 months”. Councillor Allan Casey, Glasgow’s convener for workforce, homelessness and addictions, said each visit represents “an opportunity to reduce harm”.
The Scottish Government has committed up to £2.3 million a year to the project, which runs 365 days a year from 9am to 9pm. NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde says a space for smoking or inhaling drugs is also planned.
The criticism
Not everyone is convinced. In August 2025, the Scottish Daily Express reported figures showing 31 of the 367 people who had used the facility by then had been referred to rehab. Annie Wells MSP, the Scottish Conservatives’ shadow drugs minister, said the room “isn’t doing anything to help those suffering from addiction”. Councillor Casey responded that referral numbers were the wrong way to measure a service designed to keep people alive.
Academic voices have raised similar concerns. Dr Carlton Brick of the University of the West of Scotland told The Week: “If all we can do is intervene to keep them alive when they overdose, I think that is a problem.” The same report noted 175 needle-related complaints in the first four months and Home Office concerns about a “honeypot effect”. Even ministers have been careful with expectations. Elena Whitham, then Scotland’s drugs minister, told STV News: “We know this is not a silver bullet.”
How the pilot will be judged
The Thistle is a three-year pilot. The University of Glasgow and Glasgow Caledonian University are leading an independent evaluation, funded by the National Institute for Health and Care Research and running until September 2029. According to the University of Glasgow, it will look at overdose-related ambulance call-outs, injecting risk, use of drug treatment services and quality of life, as well as how local residents and businesses feel about safety and crime. It will also assess whether the facility offers value for money.
The university says the research will directly determine whether the facility continues. For now, the first year offers a busy service, dozens of emergencies handled indoors, and a debate that is far from settled.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
1. Do people buy or receive drugs at The Thistle?
No. NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde describes it as a clean and safe place to inject drugs obtained elsewhere, under the supervision of nursing and social care staff.
2. Why is the facility legal when drug laws are set at Westminster?
Drug law remains reserved to the UK Parliament. The pilot went ahead after Scotland’s Lord Advocate said it would not be in the public interest to prosecute people for possessing drugs inside the facility, as reported by The Week.
3. When will we know if the pilot has worked?
The independent evaluation led by the University of Glasgow and Glasgow Caledonian University runs until September 2029. Its findings on health outcomes, community impact and cost are expected to decide the facility’s future.
