University of Stirling Substance Use expert Professor Catriona Matheson is launching a new partnership with the pharmacy profession to help drive down drug deaths. The aim of this initiative is to bring together stakeholders in the pharmacy profession across Scotland to explore how to drive change and improve health with the ultimate objective of reducing deaths. The event will bring together topic specialists, practising pharmacists and leaders from across the pharmacy profession.

As the drug-overdose epidemic continues to worsen, the American Medical Association (AMA) is maintaining its pressure on regulators, legislators and manufacturers to expand availability to naloxone. This includes making the opioid-related overdose-reversing drug available over the counter (OTC). The Biden administration is considering such a move, according to Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra remarks that were strongly supported by the AMA.

The Ontario government says it has introduced legislation that would require workplaces at high risk for an opioid overdose to have life-saving naloxone kits on site. Some high-risk workplaces listed by the government include construction sites, bars and nightclubs.

Police Scotland’s Chief Constable has announced that all operational officers in the force will be trained and equipped with a life-saving nasal spray. The national roll-out of Naloxone follows successful tests in Dundee, Falkirk, Glasgow, Stirling and Caithness, where the officers used the spray to counter the effects of overdose from opioids, such as heroin.

Firefighters are being offered the chance to become trained and equipped to help prevent drug deaths. They will be able to volunteer to carry naloxone – a nasal spray which can reverse the effects of an opioid overdose – as part of a £90,000 project funded by the Scottish Government.