Drug deaths in Scotland hit record high

[parsforlife]

If nothing else the drug market is remarkable it’s it’s ability to respond to challenges and I’m sure they will quickly adapt, indeed it is probably abit ahead of things here in diversifying their opioid supply. 
 

Fentyanol likely to fill any gap I’d think, which is terrible for OD rates.

We could protect users and provide testing kits, will we? Nah, their just junkies, if we reduce the chance of death use will just go up.

[SlipperyP]

28 minutes ago, parsforlife said:

If nothing else the drug market is remarkable it’s it’s ability to respond to challenges and I’m sure they will quickly adapt, indeed it is probably abit ahead of things here in diversifying their opioid supply. 
 

Fentyanol likely to fill any gap I’d think, which is terrible for OD rates.

We could protect users and provide testing kits, will we? Nah, their just junkies, if we reduce the chance of death use will just go up.

We could protect users and provide testing kits, will we? Nah, their just junkies, if we reduce the chance of death use will just go up.

never happen to my son or daughter, why should i care, stick them all in the jail. in fact stick them in with all the drugs, so they die there

 

[strichener]

18 minutes ago, SlipperyP said:

We could protect users and provide testing kits, will we? Nah, their just junkies, if we reduce the chance of death use will just go up.

never happen to my son or daughter, why should i care, stick them all in the jail. in fact stick them in with all the drugs, so they die there

 

I have posted it before but it is worth posting again.  I have a very close relative who is a drug addict and when they actually found the strength to try and beat their addiction they came to me.  It was heartbreaking and infuriating at the same time to speak to a health practitioner who really wanted to help but had no way of doing so at the time other than giving me the advice of "use a dealer that you trust".  It took 6 weeks from that point until they managed to get on a program. 

It really is no wonder that we can't get drug deaths down when we can't help the addicts when they want it.  The window of opportunity is far smaller than the processes that are used to try and help drug users and subsequently people die.

[SlipperyP]

4 minutes ago, strichener said:

I have posted it before but it is worth posting again.  I have a very close relative who is a drug addict

I feel your pain, I really do, it's not easy watching folk crumble, more of my friends have been caught up in the valium, blues aas we called. i was lucky, don't know why...just lucky, most are dead now or fucked up they don't know who I am...my hand havs blood.

Sorry, from my heart

[ICTChris]

Drug deaths fall to their lowest level in five years

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-66572155

 

[vikingTON]

ITV news did a 'special investigation' into Scotland's drug death epidemic last week, in which they forecast based on insider knowledge that deaths would, err, hit a new record high when the latest figures came out.

https://www.itv.com/watch/news/scotlands-drug-deaths-expected-to-rise-as-nation-battles-spike-in-cocaine-use/rf5d3bp

There's nothing for the SG to celebrate but journalists making a total arse of themselves is absolutely worth highlighting.

[invergowrie arab]

Over as a public health crisis IMO

[stimpy]

Found this online, I like the idea of a harm reduction strategy however the "law and order Tories" still think they can make Scotland punish their way out of this current crisis. 

https://cranstoun.org/news/the-right-to-recovery-bill-consultation/

[Wee-Bey]

Accusations that the figures have been fiddled and the numbers have been lowballed.

[101]

The public interest of prosecuting people possessing drugs in "safe consumption rooms" has been dropped therefore you can no longer be convicted of simple possession in these spaces.

[ICTChris]

On 25/08/2023 at 17:02, Ziggy Sobotka said:

Accusations that the figures have been fiddled and the numbers have been lowballed.

I think that these accusations aren't accurate - I think it was a report in the Scotsman that mentioned this, if I recall what I read at the time then it isn't a fair criticism of the data.

[Derry Alli]

2 hours ago, 101 said:

The public interest of prosecuting people possessing drugs in "safe consumption rooms" has been dropped therefore you can no longer be convicted of simple possession in these spaces.

Does the pub lavvy constitute a "safe consumption room", my friend enquires.

[coprolite]

On 25/08/2023 at 16:27, stimpy said:

Found this online, I like the idea of a harm reduction strategy however the "law and order Tories" still think they can make Scotland punish their way out of this current crisis. 

https://cranstoun.org/news/the-right-to-recovery-bill-consultation/

Thing is, a "law and order" approach isn't necessarily incompatible with a harm reduction strategy. It's just that the UKs toxic media/political environment plays it that way. 

They could have their futile, pointless war on drugs and still stop intravenous users from dying of gangrene in a civilised country. 

But some Kuensberg/Robinson arsepiece would be giving it "you promised to be tough on crime. Why are you allowing heroin galleries?" 

It's infantile and tragic. 

[GNU_Linux]

 


In the Trongate for anyone not familiar with Glasgow

 

Quote

The proposed site for the UK's first sanctioned drugs consumption room has been revealed.

Hunter Street Health Centre in the east end of Glasgow has been earmarked as the location for a pilot scheme.

The facility is backed by the Scottish government as a way to tackle the country's drugs deaths crisis.

The country's top law officer paved the way for the pilot after she said users of the sites would not be prosecuted for simple possession offences.

The UK government has also said it would not intervene in the scheme.

Documents presented to the city council and health board said the facility would be open between 09:00 and 21:00, 365 days a year at the Hunter Street Health Centre, which already provides a heroin assisted-treatment service.

 

Campaigners say that drug consumption rooms - facilities where people can inject illegal drugs under supervision - can reduce overdose deaths, public injecting and drug-related litter.

But others oppose them, claiming they send out the wrong signal about the dangers of drugs, and could divert resources away from tackling the the problem through treatment-based approaches.

A report going before Glasgow's integration joint board noted that the consumption facility was "likely to polarise opinion".

It said the rooms had been shown to "reduce public injecting and discarded needles, and remove barriers to, and improve the uptake into, treatment and care".

The Hunter Street site "offers a discrete base, closely located to the city centre, and implementation of the enhanced drug treatment service within the centre has not caused significant challenges for the community", the report added.

Glasgow's Health and Social Care Partnership will cover the costs of redesigning the building, creating a reception and injecting area with booths as well as treatment rooms and a recovery area.

The Scottish government has agreed to make up to £2.3m a year available for the pilot, with staff being hired in 2024/25.

The report said: "The safer drugs consumption facility will be subject to a robust independent evaluation studying the impact on service users, staff, local communities and businesses, and whether anticipated wider societal benefits such as cost reductions in other services are realised."

The plans will be considered by the integration joint board at its next meeting on 27 September.

Drug laws are reserved to the UK government, which has opposed drug consumption facilities, but Scotland's Lord Advocate Dorothy Bain KC sets out the rules on whether prosecutions should take place.

The Home Office has said it would not impede the consumption room pilot from going ahead.

Earlier this week, Drugs Policy Minister Elena Whitham said applications would also be made for drug testing facilities in three Scottish cities.

Plans for Aberdeen, Glasgow and Dundee were awaiting "final communications" from the Home Office, she told MSPs.

The drugs checking services are designed to reduce harm by testing illegal substances and potentially reducing overdoses.

[Salt n Vinegar]

4 minutes ago, GNU_Linux said:

 


In the Trongate for anyone not familiar with Glasgow

 

Be good to see some progress on the issue.  At least we'll have some evidence for the supporters and opponents of the experiment to discuss.

[carpetmonster]

36 minutes ago, GNU_Linux said:

 


In the Trongate for anyone not familiar with Glasgow

 

Not a kick in the arse off where Peter Krykant had his van then, which is sensible. 

[ICTChris]

The latest figures have been released and show that 1,172 people died due to drug misuse in 2023, a rise of 171 on 2022.

 

You can see the report and other data here - https://www.nrscotland.gov.uk/statistics-and-data/statistics/statistics-by-theme/vital-events/deaths/drug-related-deaths-in-scotland/2023

The average age of a drug misuse death has increased from 32 in 2000 to 45 in 2023.

Opiate drugs were implicated in 80% of the deaths.

90% of deaths were classified as accidental poisoning, with 7% intentional poisoning.

People living in the most deprived areas were 15 times more likely to die from drug misuse than those in the least deprived areas.

Glasgow City and Dundee City were the council areas with teh highest rates of drug misuse deaths, East Renfrewshire and East Dunbartonshire had the lowest.

[101]

11 minutes ago, ICTChris said:

The latest figures have been released and show that 1,172 people died due to drug misuse in 2023, a rise of 171 on 2022.

 

You can see the report and other data here - https://www.nrscotland.gov.uk/statistics-and-data/statistics/statistics-by-theme/vital-events/deaths/drug-related-deaths-in-scotland/2023

The average age of a drug misuse death has increased from 32 in 2000 to 45 in 2023.

Opiate drugs were implicated in 80% of the deaths.

90% of deaths were classified as accidental poisoning, with 7% intentional poisoning.

People living in the most deprived areas were 15 times more likely to die from drug misuse than those in the least deprived areas.

Glasgow City and Dundee City were the council areas with teh highest rates of drug misuse deaths, East Renfrewshire and East Dunbartonshire had the lowest.

Being away in Germany for the football really showed how big a problem Scottish drug use was, felt like everyone over there was looking for gear constantly. f**k knows how you fix it, and with stronger opiates on the way going to need to act quickly. One possible option would be to decriminalise weed, tax it and use that to fund some very expensive state rehab programmes but until we get independence it’s a no go.
 

I would question if the routes into the country are being policed strongly enough. Although I would imagine synthetic opiates can be easier to smuggle or made here.

[scottsdad]

Here's an interesting stat. 

Pre-minimum unit pricing for alcohol, drug deaths in Scotland never exceeded 1,000 per year. 

Since it was introduced, drug deaths in Scotland have never been below 1,000 per year. 

[Richey Edwards]

Current approaches clearly aren't working to reduce drug deaths. Maybe its time to follow the lead of Portugal by decriminalising drug use and instead provide access to rehabilitation programmes.

Addiction is a vicious cycle that needs to be broken.

The current approach appears to revolve around harm reduction. The rationale being that people who use drugs are going to do it anyway so should be encouraged to do so in the "safest" manner. 

Harm reduction methods are all good and well and definitely have their place. Naloxone was rolled out a few years ago to first responders and to families/friends of drug users. Naloxone temporarily reverses the effects of an opioid overdose which can buy some time. Needle exchange programmes exist to reduce the risk of bloodborne viruses.

However, none of these address the underlying problems - trauma, mental illness, a lack of alternative coping mechanisms, learned behaviours and defective coping strategies. For many drug use is an escapism from their difficulties and they are trapped in a cycle.

The approach to treatment has needed rethought and overhauled for years. Until this happens we are going to continue to see high numbers of drug-related deaths.