SDCF - Service user families information
Safer drug consumption facilities (SDCFs) are supervised healthcare settings where people can consume drugs, obtained elsewhere, in the presence of trained health and social care professionals, in clean and hygienic environments reducing the risk of overdose and infectious diseases whilst offering support and access to healthcare services.
They offer a compassionate, person-centred service which focuses on reducing the harms associated with injecting drug use and helps people access appropriate services to meet their needs. By doing so, they are able to reach an extremely vulnerable group who often do not engage with our existing services.
The SDCF will be located at 55 Hunter Street, Glasgow, G4 0UP and it is proposed that once fully operational it will be open 9am to 9pm every day, 365 days of the year.
The Lord Advocate has indicated that it may not be in the public interest to prosecute users of the Safer Drug Consumption Facility in terms of simple possession of drugs whilst on the site.
This does not apply travelling to and from the facility, and it is our understanding that Police Scotland will police the surrounding area in the same way as they do at present.
You can contact Police Scotland directly.
The service has four interview rooms to allow service users to interact with a range of support services from health, social care and third sector organisations.
This service is staffed by health and social care professionals who aim to support service users to reduce harms associated with injecting drugs. They will help service users to access a range of treatment services including wound care, Blood Borne Virus teams, sexual health teams, and if required addiction treatment services
Key rules for attending the SDCF
Those attending the service:
- must be over the age of 18 years
- can only use the drug they bring onto the site
- cannot share or sell drugs on site, and
- cannot help others to make up or inject drugs.
Staff are on hand to monitor injecting activity, provide harm reduction advice to minimise the risk of overdose and intervene with assistance if a person does overdose. There have been no overdose deaths in the other Safer Drug Consumption facilities around the world.
Clean injecting equipment is supplied for each service user and Naloxone is available for take home use.