Tag: drugs

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Before they begin to rejoice that ‘suspected’ drug deaths are up, real drug deaths are plummeting

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‘Suspected’ drug deaths based on police reports from crime scenes, with no blood tests, are up 7% on the previous quarter. Expect a joyous media flutter on this and the SNP to be accused of betrayal. The actual, real, drug deaths figures for 2023 will not be published until August 2024 but the trend is abundantly clear, above. Why are they falling? Westminster is ultimately responsible for Scotland’s drug deaths Drug deaths fall by 21% in only one year as SNP policies begin to reverse long-term effects of decades of Tory/New Labour neglect Evidence emerges that significant drug deaths fall … Continue reading Before they begin to rejoice that ‘suspected’ drug deaths are up, real drug deaths are plummeting

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England follows Scotland’s world-leading life-saving overdose drug programme after three years of delay

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By stewartb On the UK and Health pages of The BBC News website this morning (14 May): ‘Life-saving overdose drug to be given without prescription’. It’s about extending of availability in England of naloxone, the drug given in an emergency to those at risk of death from an opioid overdose. The same story featured in news bulletins throughout Radio 4’s Today programme. Much praise for the UK government in taking this decision! No mention of Scotland’s world first in making naloxone widely available for emergency use. The Scottish Programme reported on TuS: Scotland was the first country in the world to implement … Continue reading England follows Scotland’s world-leading life-saving overdose drug programme after three years of delay

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Increased supply of SNP’s world-leading opioid overdose reversal kits saving lives and reducing hospital admissions

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By Professor John Robertson From Public Health Scotland today: During 2023/24 Quarter 2 (1 July 2023 to 30 September 2023): At the end of 2023/24 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 73.2%, an increase of 1.5 percentage points compared to 2023/24 Quarter 1 (71.7%). https://www.publichealthscotland.scot/publications/national-naloxone-programme-scotland-quarterly-monitoring-bulletin/national-naloxone-programme-scotland-quarterly-monitoring-bulletin-july-to-september-q2-202324/ This positive news on the use of the opioid overdose reversal drug Naloxone, a world-first for the Scottish Government, comes on top of previous, uncovered by the media, news on a massive fall in drug-related hospital admissions, … Continue reading Increased supply of SNP’s world-leading opioid overdose reversal kits saving lives and reducing hospital admissions

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Scots drug gang are ‘Scots’ drug gangs but English drug gangs are never ‘English’ drug gangs

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In the Daily Mail on 11 December 2023: Sophisticated Scottish cocaine-smuggling gang face jail  and in the Sun on 21 March 2024: I was groomed by a major Scots crime gang – I was at their mercy out of fears of being murdered In February 2024, the Mail reported: The Scottish Mail on Sunday can reveal at least 55 gangs have been identified operating north of the Border – more than double the number in 2020. County lines is the phenomenon whereby drug dealers from cities expand their operation by crossing county borders into smaller towns and rural areas. Gangs … Continue reading Scots drug gang are ‘Scots’ drug gangs but English drug gangs are never ‘English’ drug gangs

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International news media cover dramatic English ‘County Lines’ gangsters impacting public safety in Dundee but Scottish media strangely miss it

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From BNN Correspondents, a global news desk, on 28 February 2024: In June 2019, Dundee became the focal point of a high-stakes law enforcement operation that culminated in the sentencing of two key figures involved in a dangerous county lines drug trafficking network. Joshua Olumuyiwa, 32, and Brandon Collins, 24, were convicted for their roles in the supply of cocaine, marking a significant victory for community safety efforts. The incident that led to their capture was nothing short of cinematic, with Olumuyiwa behind the wheel of a Ford EcoSport fitted with fraudulent plates, leading police on a high-speed chase that … Continue reading International news media cover dramatic English ‘County Lines’ gangsters impacting public safety in Dundee but Scottish media strangely miss it

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SNP drug death prevention programme leading to massive fall in ambulance call-outs and hospital admissions

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Opiates and opioids, including heroin, morphine and methadone, are implicated in more than 8 out of 10 drug related deaths in Scotland. The picture is the same globally. Naloxone is a medication designed to rapidly reverse opioid overdose. It is an opioid antagonist—meaning that it binds to opioid receptors and can reverse and block the effects of other opioids, such as heroin, morphine, and oxycodone. Scotland was the first country in the world, in 2021, to implement a national naloxone programme, which saw take-home naloxone (THN) given to those released from prison and distributed to community drug services. Naloxone provision has since been … Continue reading SNP drug death prevention programme leading to massive fall in ambulance call-outs and hospital admissions