England’s first drug overdose prevention site could be hosted in Tower Hamlets

A pop-up drug consumption site near Brick Lane this week could become the first facility of its kind in the country, marking a groundbreaking new approach to the nitazenes drug deaths crisis.

England’s first overdose prevention site may look more like a festival tent than a medical facility. Tucked away in the back of Allen Gardens on a quiet Thursday afternoon, the demo site operated from 1 pm to 6 pm on June 26. 

The site, intended as a safe for people to use drugs, was a green pop-up tent surrounded by a handful of volunteers, a table packed with pamphlets, and a (surprisingly comfortable) blow-up couch. Inside the tent, a table, a mirror, a chair, injection materials and naloxone. 

Just a street down from Allen Gardens, Brick Lane buzzes, but on a rainy afternoon, the park was quiet. Locals walked dogs, and residents at the Daniel Gilbert House hostel (which houses single homeless people) chatted on the benches. It didn’t look like history was being made, but it was. 

The idea that supervised drug taking could save lives is gaining traction. Sites for safe consumption (aka overdose prevention) started officially opening in Europe in the 80s and 90s amidst the AIDs crisis. There are now more than 100 such sites globally, including in Mexico, Switzerland and France. 

There has never been a more dangerous time in the UK to take drugs. Nitazenes (dangerous synthetic opioids) have been linked to at least 400 drug-related deaths since June 2023, and deaths are likely being seriously undercounted. 

The UK’s first safe consumption site only opened in 2025, in Glasgow. Some will say it’s too little, too late, and that we urgently need more to reduce rising drug deaths. Others will see them as a gamble that risks normalising drug use. 

Should Councils consider opening overdose prevention sites as a method of reducing nitazene deaths? 

Last week’s demo site was organised by the London Harm Reduction Collective (LHRC), a coalition of local and national organisations whose current goal is to open a functioning overdose prevention site in London before the end of 2025. 

‘We are already in a drug-related death crisis,’ the group’s website reads, ‘As lethal synthetic opioids, such as nitazenes, continue to contaminate multiple drug supplies, we cannot wait idly as the situation worsens and more of our people die.’

The site this week was a demo with the permission of  Tower Hamlets Council. It is the closest thing England has ever had to a functioning overdose prevention site. 

From funding to logistics, the only difference between the demo site and what a fully functioning one would look like is that no one was permitted to use drugs at the demo site. 

Inside the tent was a clean private area for someone to use drugs in and materials for safe use, including sterile needles and naloxone, the antidote to an opioid overdose.

The site also had volunteers trained in overdose prevention, and Release staff (a national drug law advice charity) able to connect users to health information, rehabilitation services, or confidential legal advice. LHRC organisations, including the Museum of Homelessness and The People’s Recovery Project, also had staff and support present.

It was a very life-changing experience […] I was viewed, humanised, for what felt like the first time.

N, A HEROIN USER FROM EAST LONDON

One of the attendees on the day was a heroin user who preferred to go by the name of N. Softspoken and looking to be in his 20s, N had heard about the demo from Release’s drop-in harm reduction hub in Aldgate. The hub provides drug users with free advice, a place to gather, and safer-use supplies. 

N grew up and lives in east London and frequently uses heroin alone. His first experience with an overdose prevention site was while living in Vancouver. ‘It was a very life-changing experience,’ he said, ‘I was viewed, humanised, for what felt like the first time, despite what I was doing. 

‘To just be given a cup of tea, [and] afterwards to sit and chat with someone about what was going on in my life… doing something that’s safer increases your worth.’  

Every time N has tested his heroin for nitazenes using test strips, the results have come back positive. He sent one positive sample off to be lab-tested, and the results showed it did not contain nitazenes. He said false-positives are common, but believes nitazenes are still in the drug supply. 

‘In the back of my mind, there’s a concern especially with when I’m alone,’ he said, ‘At the same time, it doesn’t necessarily stop me. It’s a concern but…it just makes it more dangerous.’ 

N’s experience with harm reduction has shifted his perspective, allowing him to get connected to services for a methadone prescription and a detox programme. He hopes that the London overdose prevention site will become permanent. 

The difference in how I respond to how I’m being treated, I’ve noticed I’m not always this angry, resistant person,’ he said, ‘If someone just meets me with care and compassion, then I feel safe enough to actually be honest and open.’ 

Overdose prevention sites are also commonly referred to as safe consumption sites. The LHRC chose ‘Tower Hamlets Overdose Prevention Site’ to emphasise the life-saving potential. Tower Hamlets was chosen as a location because it reportedly has the highest number of opiate users in London. If the demo site is allowed to become a reality, the LHRC are considering having the site be mobile across different parks in the borough. 

In the back of my mind, there’s a concern especially with when I’m alone […] At the same time, it doesn’t necessarily stop me. It’s a concern but…it just makes it more dangerous.

n’s experience with nitazenes

Fraser Parry, Drugs Advocacy and Support Adviser at Release (a member of the LHRC), says the time for an overdose prevention site is now. ‘Drug deaths have risen every year for the past 12 years, and in London have now reached a 25-year high. 

Treatment and harm reduction services have had their funding cut to the bone over the past 15 years, and despite the hard work that everyone does in this sector, they are simply unable to meet the needs of many people who use drugs. 

OHID (Office for Health Improvement and Disparities) estimates that only around half of crack and heroin users access treatment – the rest are at much greater risk of drug-related harms,’ he said.  

At least 105 people visited the demo site on Thursday, with all of the visitors speaking positively about the idea. Most people were residents, although some travelled from other parts of London to see the site, including Hackney Greens councillor and City Assembly member Zoë Garbett, London’s only politician concerned about nitazenes. 

The legality of such sites is a grey area, meaning police can decide whether they shut them down or allow them to run. In the case of the demo site, permission was only needed to put up the tent and distribute materials like naloxone. 

If the site were up and running, police would need to choose not to enter despite knowing attendees will most likely be in possession of illegal drugs.

This practice is already common in settings like needle and syringe exchanges, where it is widely accepted that police searches for drugs cause more harm than good. 

When asked their thoughts on overdose prevention sites, a Tower Hamlets Council spokesperson said, ‘Tower Hamlets Council has a commitment to harm reduction in the borough, and we provide effective, legal evidence-based activities which reduce the risk of drug and alcohol related harm.’ 

The UK currently has only one overdose prevention site in Glasgow, called the Thistle. Before the Thistle, there was an unsanctioned overdose prevention site which ran for nine months in Glasgow City Centre without being shut down by police. 

This first site ran out of a second-hand minibus and was largely funded and staffed by drug activist Peter Krykant. Krykant recently passed away at age 48. His pioneering site treated nine overdoses and paved the way for the Thistle, which is in a permanent building purposefully fitted for the purpose. A framed photo of Krykant, who was close to several members of the LHRC, was on display in his memory in the Allen Gardens overdose prevention site. 

Other than potential legal issues, critics of safe consumption sites argue that funds are better spent on addiction treatment services. However, while the Thistle costs a yearly £2.3 million to fund, the Tower Hamlets demo site, staffed by volunteers and stocked largely using donations, was only an estimated £200. The LHRC intend to continue running the site as a pop-up, meaning overhead costs would remain low. 

The casualness of the pop-up site will be appealing to some drug users, who might be put off by a more formal facility like the Thistle (where users need to register). However, the Thistle can offer things like blood-testing, specialised wound treatment and professional medical staff on-site, which the LHRC site cannot.

The LHRC-run overdose prevention site would focus on overdose prevention and clean supplies, and the lack of full-spectrum support might make it a harder sell politically. 

Another concern is that the sites could encourage increased drug use. Tower Hamlets’ annual survey showed that public use and the buying and selling of drugs were a concern raised by 58% of respondents.

‘What we are proposing gives people a place to go to use drugs safely. If you provide these facilities then people don’t need to hide in alleys, or on stairwells in housing estates – they have somewhere to go and be kept safe, and where any drug paraphernalia like needles or pipes can be safely disposed of,’ says Parry.

‘Criminalising drug use doesn’t prevent people using drugs, it just makes drug use more dangerous. In the same way, [overdose prevention sites] don’t encourage drug use, but they do make the drug use that is already happening more safe.’

As synthetic opioids like nitazenes quietly infiltrate drug supplies and overdose deaths soar, the question is no longer preventing drug use but stopping it from claiming lives. 

The UK’s only functioning overdose prevention site, the Thistle, is currently open as part of a three-year trial. National policy on similar sites is unlikely to follow suit until the trial time has passed. 

Yet with lives at stake, activists like the LHRC are insisting the time is now. With approval from the Council, the Tower Hamlets Overdose Prevention Site could become a long-term reality. Is it time to step up, and try something radically different? 

Read our synthetic opioids series from the beginning: The arrival of an invisible killer: Is Tower Hamlets ready for Nitazenes?