A HEROIN Assisted Treatment Centre will be built in Calton if approved by councillors.

The plan is to turn a building currently used as a homelessness health centre and adjacent land into the centre.

The HAT will see chronic drug addicts prescribed diamorphine by doctors.

The centre can be opened without any change in the law as no illegal drugs will be taken on the premises.

HAT has been used in other UK cities including London and Brighton as well as in Germany and Switzerland.

The site at Hunter Street close to the Morrisons supermarket would also be the location for the Safe Drug Consumption Facility or injecting rooms, if it is granted permission by the UK Government.

The two facilities are different as HAT involves doctors prescribing and administering medical grade drugs while SDCF would allow users to bring their own illegal heroin to the centre to take in a controlled environment under supervision.

The land was previously earmarked for a hostel to replace the Clyde Place assessment centre.

But following a deal to progress Housing First, putting homeless people directly into tenancies, the premises and land is now available and has been identified as the location for the heroin centre.

Councillor Mhairi Hunter, chair of the Integrated Joint Board, said: “The plans for a HAT programme and a safer consumption room are very much part of the wider work to support people with multiple and complex needs.

“The case for such facilities remains as compelling as ever.

“We still need the UK Government to budge on its refusal to allow the creation of a legal framework that would allow the SCDF to operate legitimately.”

It is hoped that a HAT will help those at risk of overdose and infection who are injecting drugs in public.

The idea is it reduces the need for drug users to buy heroin from drug dealers and leads to addicts getting access to health care and addiction support services.

And also fewer needles left lying in public posing a risk to people’s health.