Harm minimisation, water-wings, swimming lessons and The Thistle.

I am not about to explain harm minimization however:

Glasgow are about to have the first safe consumption room in the UK. This means that you can consume narcotics in an observed environment, where nurses are on hand to respond to overdoses should it be necessary, alongside access on site to basic amenities such as a food bank and showers. It is a community intervention scheme, water wings rather than swimming lessons.

They have been in operation across Europe for some time and the same arguments and concerns that arose around them initially are yet again resurfacing.

The argument is that it ‘encourages people to continue to harm themselves’. Because these individuals would decide to stop doing the exact same thing on the street or in public spaces? Because there are so many avenues for accessing treatment that creating a consumption room would reignite the internal ambivalent debate of the drug user now faced with an attractive proposition to keep using?

Creating a consumption room creates a visibility. Not one some people are that pleased with. Out of sight, out of mind.