Council forced to send in clean-up crew to deal with vile drug den near Glasgow's fix room
COUNCIL chiefs were forced to call in a JCB to scoop up drug debris near Glasgow's safe consumption room.
Piles of used needles were piled on Tobago Street in the city's Calton, near the controversial facility heralded by local authority bosses.
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A JCB was called in to clean up drug debris and mess from fly-tipping
Credit: Glasgow City Council
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A clean up was ordered on Tobago Street near the safe consumption room
Credit: Les Gallagher
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Discarded needles at the drug den near the facility
Credit: Les Gallagher
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The Thistle has caused outrage among local residents
Credit: Les Gallagher
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Campaigner Colin McGowan said the council owes the people of Calton an apology
Credit: Steve Welsh
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Councillor Allan Casey rejected suggestions the clean-up was a U-turn by the council
Credit: Les Gallagher
Residents have been up in arms over the fix room and said the area around their homes has become a hotbed of drugs and crime since it opened.
They gathered at a meeting where they said they feared for their kids safety and blasted cops for their lack of action in tackling the rise in drug dealers flooding the area.
But a major cleanup of the area was ordered by bosses after multiple complaints from locals.
There was so much debris from drug use and fly tipping around the drug den that a digger had to be used.
Pictures taken by The Scottish Sun in the area today showed used needles and foil wrappers littering the area.
Campaigner Colin McGowan, who runs childrens' charity Blameless, told how he has repeatedly been out picking up dozens of used needles from the Tobago Street area.
He told The Scottish Sun: "We've been told we are peddling misinformation and have been called social media agitators with a passing interest.
"This clean-up is a total U-turn from the council. It's a good start, but they still need to answer to the rising crime, the rise in drug dealing, and the lack of police presence in the area.
"It is bringing more drug users and drug dealers to the area. Where is their duty of care to the people?
"The people of Calton are blameless. They have to go out there and live in an area saturated with needles.
Drug fix rooms could be rolled out across Scotland before end of controversial Glasgow pilot
"The council and John Swinney need to apologise to the people of Calton for finally catching up."
Councillor Allan Casey, who is the council's convenor for addiction services flat out rejected any suggestion the JCB was a U-turn from city bosses.
He said: "There has been absolutely no U-turn. We have been doing clean ups in the area long before The Thistle has been there.
"We've conducted a number of clean ups before The Thistle even opened and indeed after it because we have been speaking to the community all throughout the process of opening The Thistle and we will continue to do so.
"Any misinformation is that this is a new phenomenon.
"We hope that's a good start and it's making a difference but it's very early days and we want to obviously make sure that we're removing harm as much as we possibly can."
We told how Health Secretary Neil Gray has paved the way for more of the fix rooms to be opened up across Scotland.
He appeared before MPs at Westminster amid the controversy surrounding The Thistle.
talked up the idea of allowing crack cocaine to be smoked at the first fix room, saying the Scottish Government and top prosecutor Lord Advocate would 'consider' this.
His appearance at Westminster's Scottish Affairs Committee came amid a row over the Thistle Centre facility, which has seen a stream of ambulance call-outs since it opened this year.
There are also worries it may be fuelling levels of discarded needles in the area of Glasgow's east end, and campaigners have warned it is distracting from the need for rehab for addicts.
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