Many of us have had to address the concerns of those who feared that the supply of Take Home Naloxone would increase risk taking behaviours among opiate users, but today we’re able to point to a continually increasing global evidence base that naloxone saves lives. (Links to a PDF of DDN magazine, naloxone article on p16).

Additional funding of up to £20 million is being delivered to help reduce the harms and deaths caused by drug and alcohol use in the Scottish Government’s budget for 2020/21.

On Sunday, NSW Health issued a warning: several drug users in Sydney were being poisoned by acetyl-fentanyl – a highly dangerous substance which can be lethal in even small doses – after believing they were taking cocaine.

In rural Carter County, Tenn., health officials have embraced a strategy for stemming addiction: Teaching children as young as 6 how to administer Narcan, a nasal spray that can stop an opioid overdose from being fatal.

A lot of campaigning around drug-related deaths in Scotland is focusing on the need for safe consumption rooms. These should absolutely be introduced where there’s an obvious need – like in Glasgow or Dundee – but I fear they are being framed as a silver bullet that will solve this crisis in one clean shot. In reality, our response needs to be much broader.

Health chiefs hope to provide heroin overdose-blocking drugs in all first aid kits in response to North Ayrshire’s drugs death crisis. Cabinet member for Health and Social Care Cllr Robert Foster said it is to be recommended that all first aid kits are updated to provide the life-saving drug in response to the high number of drug deaths.