Scotland’s world-first opioid overdose reversal programme kits being issued in ever greater numbers to fight the effects of the plague of English drug gangs with cheaper more powerful forms backed by extreme violence and to reduce the load in hospitals
From National naloxone programme Scotland – Quarterly monitoring bulletin Quarterly Monitoring Bulletin July to September (Q2) 2025/26, published today, the above, and:
This release by Public Health Scotland (PHS) presents information on the number of take-home naloxone kits issued by the National Naloxone Programme (NNP) in Scotland (1 July 2025 to 30 September 2025). Figures are presented separately for kits issued from community-based services (mainly specialist drug treatment and non-drug treatment services), kits issued in prisons at the point of liberation, kits dispensed via community prescription, and kits issued by Scottish Ambulance Service (SAS).
Accidental overdose is a common cause of death among users of heroin, morphine and similar drugs, which are referred to as opioids. Naloxone is a drug which reverses the effects of a potentially fatal overdose with these drugs.
and:
At the end of 2025/26 Quarter 2, the ‘reach’ of the NNP (percentage of people at risk of opioid overdose who have been supplied with THN) was estimated to be 85.8%, an increase of 1.8 percentage points compared to 2025/26 Quarter 1 (84%). The total number of THN kits supplied in 2025/26 Quarter 2 was the second largest since the beginning of the National Naloxone Programme (with 2025/26 Quarter 1 being the largest (9,766 kits)).
Why does this increase in the issue of these kits matter so much. Here’s one good reason:
From Drug-related hospital statistics Scotland 2024 to 2025, published 7 February 2026, the above graph and:
There were 10,185 drug-related hospital stays (2023/24: 11,148). The European Age-sex Standardised Rate (EASR, see background below for more information) of drug-related hospital stays was 192 stays per 100,000 population. This rate was a decrease from 2023/24 (212 stays per 100,000 population) and continued the decreasing trend observed in hospital stays since 2020/21.
Opioid-related stays accounted for 38% of all drug-related stays, the lowest percentage in the time series, continuing a steady decrease from 64% in 2011/12.
The rate of stays for drug poisoning/overdose decreased to 21 stays per 100,000 population, from 27 stays per 100,000 population in 2023/24, and was the lowest rate observed since 2006/07 (21 stays per 100,000).
The decline in opioid stays is simply explained by SNP Government’s world-first opioid overdose reversal programme increasing, in January 2026, its reach to 84% and its protection of hospitals as it fights the effects of the English County Lines drug gangs plague in Scotland
What is the Naxolone Initiative?
After a pilot phase ending in 2018, the Scottish Government began to embed Naloxone opioid overdose reversal kits across NHS Scotland. Shortly after, the kits which can be administered by anyone, were adopted by Police Scotland, ambulances and prisons, and made available to libraries, community centres, taxi drivers and to the friends and relatives of users.
Scotland was the first country in the world to introduce a national naloxone programme, empowering individuals, families, friends and communities to reverse an opiate overdose.
Anyone in Scotland can now order a free naloxone kit from national charity Scottish Families Affected by Alcohol & Drugs (SFAD) and be trained in its use.
Opioids such as those found in prescription painkillers are now responsible for 81% of all drug deaths in Scotland.
Why are Scotland’s drug deaths not falling faster given the Naloxone scheme’s impact?
County Lines gangs seek new markets along public transport lines, in small towns and rural areas where local dealers can be dominated with threats of extreme violence and a property can be taken over. Using their scale of operations, these gangs can transport and sell more powerful drugs, more cheaply, using couriers as young as 11, to users unused to the low costs and higher strength. Increased drug deaths is a simple and predictable consequence. These same gangs, entirely from English cities, were first reported in Scottish towns, up the east cast rail lines to places such as Aberdeen, Fraserburgh, Inverness and Wick, around 2019, just as Scotland’s drug deaths had begun to plateau and, in 2021, fall.
Talking-up Scotland 