Glasgow’s safer drug consumption room has saved several lives by preventing overdoses in the first three months, the centre’s manager has said.
Since it opened its doors in early January the Thistle Centre, in the east end, has seen 180 people use the facility.
Staff have supervised more than 1200 injections in the 12 weeks of operation.
In that time, there have been 16 overdose situations dealt with by the staff and no fatalities.
Lynn Macdonald, Thistle Centre service manager, said in the first four weeks there were no medical emergencies and then in one week there were five.
She said: "It could be a batch of drug that is problematic. People are noticing a difference in the heroin when they making it up, saying they are noticing a green tinge to it."
Speaking to the BBC’s Disclosure programme, Macdonald said: "I am absolutely convinced that had we not been present during the overdoses we've seen within the Thistle, then people would not have survived."
Users have been injecting heroin and cocaine, sometimes both at once.
A total of 27 people have been referred to other services, including housing, by staff.
The Thistle Centre is open 365 days a year, from 9am to 9pm.
The centre will cost £2.3m a year, funded by the Scottish Government as a pilot project for three years.
The effectiveness can be measured in many ways as well as preventing overdose.
Saket Priyadarshi, associate medical director at NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde, said at the opening: “If somebody gets HIV, the lifelong treatment for HIV is so expensive that even preventing a handful of HIV infections a year, is enough to justify the cost of this service.”
