By Professor John Robertson OBA The Guardian today has: Australian demand for overdose drug naloxone more than doubles after spike in synthetic opioid deaths but no mention of Scotland in the report. Why might it have? This: Scotland was the first country in the world [2011] to introduce a national naloxone programme, empowering individuals, families, friends and communities to reverse an opiate overdose. https://www.gov.scot/policies/alcohol-and-drugs/naloxone-provision/#:~:text=Scotland%20was%20the%20first%20country,years%20from%202011%20to%202016. From Public Health Scotland in August 2021: Since the establishment of the National Naloxone Programme in 2011/12:• 74,629 THN kits have been issued by services based in the community.• 8,793 THN kits have been issued by prisons … Continue reading English newspaper looks 10 000 miles south to report opioid crisis in Australia but fails to notice a solution launched THIRTEEN years ago just 400 miles to the north

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

By Professor John Robertson From Public Health Scotland today: During 2023/24 Quarter 2 (1 July 2023 to 30 September 2023): 8,176 Take-Home Naloxone (THN) kits were issued. Community THN supplies included 2,112 kits issued by non-drug treatment services. Of these, 67% (1,422) were supplied by Scottish Families Affected by Alcohol and Drugs (SFAD). 403 kits were issued by prisons in Scotland. 1,334 kits were supplied via prescriptions dispensed by community pharmacies. 137 THN kits were provided by the Scottish Ambulance Service. A total of 507 kits were supplied by peers (288 in the community and 219 in prisons). At the end … Continue reading Increased supply of SNP’s world-leading opioid overdose reversal kits saving lives and reducing hospital admissions