Scotland’s new minister for drugs policy, Angela Constance, has said she is determined to see a reduction in the country’s horrific drug-related death toll and significantly more people in treatment within the year.

The overdose antidote naloxone should be made available to all police officers in areas where there is a clear need, the police chiefs’ drug lead has urged after successful pilot schemes.

Ethypharm, the speciality pharmaceutical company focused on CNS and critical care medicines, has confirmed its offer to supply 10,000 Naloxone kits across 2021 to The Drug Deaths Taskforce. The company, which is the licence holder for Prenoxad Injection, has made the gesture to support the work of the Taskforce in increasing engagement, overdose prevention education and naloxone training and supply with people at risk of overdose and their families. Prenoxad is the world’s first ‘take-home’ naloxone presentation licensed for use in a non-medical setting.

People being released from custody in Durham who are at risk of overdosing, can now take home a life saving drug for the first time. Durham Police, who pioneered the use of Naloxone by its custody officers and have since extended its training to include officers on the beat, are now distributing the life saving drug to people being released from custody.

The government has announced a package of funding to tackle drug misuse including £80m for treatment services, although experts have said the investment is “a drop in the ocean” compared with cuts suffered by the sector in the last 10 years. Ministers have pledged to provide naloxone, which reverses breathing difficulties brought about by opioid use, to “every heroin user in the country that needs it”.