COMMENTARY: CALTON’S CRY FOR HOPE – NOT JUST HARM REDUCTION
Locals in Calton say Scotland’s first drug consumption room was imposed without consent—and now fear it’s worsening addiction, increasing crime, and robbing their community of hope.
The backlash over the £2.3 million Thistle Safe Consumption Room in Calton is not simply a case of “not in my backyard.”
It is a powerful outcry from a community that feels ignored, experimented on, and overwhelmed.
The voices that filled Bain Street's St Luke’s Hall on Monday night weren’t just angry—they were desperate. Desperate for safety. Desperate for respect. Desperate for real solutions that restore lives, not just manage death.
From councillor Thomas Kerr’s pointed accusation that the East End is being treated like “guinea pigs,” to Annemarie Ward’s scathing condemnation of the government’s neglect of recovery (£1.3m out of a £50m budget), the message is brutally clear: Calton is not convinced this is the right strategy—or the right location.
The recurring complaint is about a lack of transparency and consultation.
Many residents and local representatives believe the Thistle was a done deal, rubber-stamped behind closed doors, and delivered with little regard for the people who live beside it. When governance feels imposed rather than inclusive, public trust withers.
And what are the residents actually experiencing?
Needles in sandpits and gardens
Drug deals in daylight
Public injecting in broad view of schools and homes
A fear that keeps pensioners locked indoors and parents terrified for their children
Allegations that police are downplaying or failing to log incidents
This is not a theoretical policy debate. This is about people waking up every day to scenes they feel powerless to change, in a community they say is deteriorating in plain sight.
Critics of the Thistle are not against help—they’re against this kind of help.
They’re against what they see as a hollow model that facilitates addiction while starving recovery.
The most compelling and heartbreaking testimonies at the meeting came from former addicts—people who have lived the darkness and found their way out.
They didn’t find hope in sterile injection rooms or supervised drug use.
They found it in structured recovery, in treatment, in support that aimed to free them from addiction, not just contain it.
As one woman bravely said: “There is no hope up there. It’s just ‘keep using.”
Her statement landed not as a policy critique, but as a personal plea. A warning. And it was met with applause, not dismissal.
Recovery advocate Jamie Docherty called it a trap, not a treatment.
Others have likened it to a “glorified hit room.”
This language is raw and emotional—but it reflects the real fear that harm reduction is becoming harm normalisation in communities already burdened by poverty, stigma, and neglect.
What is most striking is the lack of institutional humility in the response. Where is the willingness to truly listen?
In response to this week’s backlash, The Thistle has reached out to Calton Community Council—who residents say their chairperson did not attend Monday night’s meeting—offering locals limited morning tours of the facility across three June dates to ‘ask questions’ and see the service first-hand.
According to official figures, The Thistle has been used 2,731 times since opening, including 30 medical emergencies.
To acknowledge not just the statistics, but the lived experiences? Politicians and officials often point out that drug use predates the Thistle.
That may be true. But this argument does not justify doubling down on a solution that residents—and recovering addicts—say is worsening the problem.
Meanwhile, there’s frustration at the silence—or worse, complicity—of other actors.
So, where does this leave us?
Calton doesn’t just want to be heard—they want action. And more than that, they want investment in recovery, in dignity, and in a future.
The current communication strategy has failed.
Trust is broken. And unless meaningful engagement happens—not forums that feel like window dressing, but decisions that reflect the community’s lived reality—the Thistle risks becoming a symbol of a deeper political and moral disconnect.
Calton deserves better. Glasgow deserves better. Scotland deserves a drug strategy that values recovery as much as harm reduction—and communities as more than places to park policies no one else wants.
Because as Annemarie Ward put it: “We used to help people get off drugs. Now we just watch them die slower.”
Let’s make sure that’s not the legacy we choose.
Gary Fanning, Founder and Editor of The Splash Glasgow
Story 1
Needles in Gardens. Drug Deals in Daylight. Pensioners Too Scared to Go to Bingo… Welcome to ‘New Normal' in Calton
Firece Backlash Over Drug Consumption Room
By Gary Fanning
On Monday night, around 90 angry locals packed into St Luke’s Wedding Venue on Bain Street – just metres from the controversial £2.3 million Drug Consumption Room, dubbed The Thistle – to demand answers and action.
Story 2
‘We Deserve Better’: Calton Residents Demand Action from First Minister Over Drug Crisis
Ninety neighbours pack out meeting just yards from £2.3m drug consumption room as community delivers defiant message: ‘Enough is enough’
By Gary Fanning
Around 90 residents packed into St Luke’s Wedding Venue on Bain Street on Minda night – just a few hundred meters from the so-called “Thistle” facility – for a fiery two-hour meeting and the message was clear to First Minister John Swinney: People in the Calton are unhappy and demand action
Story 3
Annemarie Ward Slams Glasgow Drug Room "A Measure of Absolute Failure" at Heated Public Meeting
Campaigner blasts £48m harm reduction strategy as locals demand real recovery solutions in Glasgow’s East End.
By Gary Fanning
Campaigner Annemarie Ward led emotional calls for action last night as furious Calton residents demanded Scotland’s First Minister confront the fallout from the country’s first Drug Consumption Room.
Story 4
There’s no hope up there’: Fury over £2.3m Thistle as Former Addict Leads Residents’ Revolt
The People of Calton Make Their Voices Heard Over Britain's First Drug Consumption Room
By Gary Fanning
A former addict has delivered a devastating warning about Britain’s first drug consumption room—claiming it offers “no hope,” is “wrecking her community,” and “won’t work.”
Story 5
Union leader calls for fencing to shut off drug den in Calton
Chris Mitchell of the GMB warns of danger to children as needles pile up in Glasgow’s East End
Union leader calls for fencing to shut off drug den in Calton
Chris Mitchell of the GMB warns of danger to children as needles pile up in Glasgow’s East End
By Gary Fanning
A union leader has called for urgent action to secure a secluded area in the Calton’s Tobago Street that he says is being used as a drug den.
Story 6
Discarded needles with visible blood found near a school in Calton
Union leader says daily encounters with drug needles pose “serious health risk” to workers and residents
By Gary Fanning
A union leader has highlighted a disturbing incident across from a park area near an old school, where used needles—some with visible blood—were left scattered, posing a serious health risk to children and families.
Story 7
‘We’re Not Guinea Pigs’: Councillor Slams Drug Policy After Losing Father to Addiction
Thomas Kerr tells emotional Calton meeting his community is being used for 'social experiments' as Safe Consumption Room sparks backlash
By Gary Fanning
A councillor who lost his father to drug addiction gave an emotional testimony at a public meeting in Calton, accusing the Scottish Government of treating his community like “guinea pigs.”
Story 8
Nursery Staff Armed with Metal Detectors to Clear Sandpit of Dumped Needles Before Children's Playtime
Toddlers at Risk as Workers Forced to Sweep for Syringes Amid Drug Chaos Near Safe Injection Site
By Gary Fanning
A nursery send out their workers with metal detectors to remove any discarded needles dumped in a sandpit before children are allowed out to play.
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