Scotland has the worst drug and alcohol death rate in Europe.
Glasgow’s only dedicated drug and alcohol crisis centre is about to close. Because the rent was doubled.
As service users in recovery, we know what it feels like to be told to wait. To be told “there’s no money.” To be told your life isn’t urgent enough. We call on Turning Point staff now. We’re asking what they need and how we can stand with them. From there, we’ll take action supporting workers, amplifying service user voices and call a joint demonstration if that’s what it takes. This isn’t just about rent, it’s about where are our government’s priorities lie.
We’ve had wins before. Campaign pressure got extensions for Murray’s and public support delayed other closures, however extensions are not security. What we need is multi-year funding for trauma-informed women’s services and rent protection for crisis services and a legitimate “national mission” that actually funds the mission.
Every statistic is a person. Every closure lands somewhere. When you close a crisis centre in Glasgow, people die. When you defund a women’s service, women go back to abusive partners or back to using. When you underfund mental health, people break. You can keep calling it a national mission but you can’t have a mission without funding. You can’t have recovery without housing, without trauma services, without workers who aren’t fighting their own landlord. The question now isn’t what the Minister will say next. The question is what we do. And that means workers, service users and communities standing together, in trade unions, in campaigns and on the streets to take back what’s ours.