NEWS ROUND-UP
Drug misuse poisoning
continues to rise
Heroin assisted
treatment pilot
launches in Glasgow
S
cotland’s first heroin-
assisted treatment
service has been
launched in Glasgow,
the city council has
announced. The Enhanced Drug
Treatment Service (EDTS) will treat
people with the most severe, long-
term and complex problems with
‘pharmaceutical grade diamorphine’.
'This service is aimed
at people with
the most chaotic
lifestyles and severe
addictions who have
not responded to
existing treatments.'
Susanne Millar
The service is operated by the
Glasgow City Health and Social Care
Partnership (GCHSCP) and has been
licensed by the Home Office. Based
in the city centre alongside homeless
health services, the aim of the
project is to reduce rates of overdose
and public injecting, as well as
the spread of blood-borne viruses.
Clients will receive treatment for
other health conditions, and there
will be a ‘holistic assessment of their
social, legal and psychological needs’.
The £1.2m service is expected
to treat around 20 clients per day
in its first year and 40 in year two.
Clients will need to attend twice
a day, seven days a week and be
‘totally committed to the treatment’,
says the council. Injectable
heroin-assisted treatment will be
supervised by trained nursing staff
and restricted to people who are
already involved with the city’s
Homeless Addiction Team. While
a pilot heroin-assisted treatment
programme was recently launched
in Middlesbrough (DDN, November,
page 5), Glasgow’s plans to establish
a drug consumption room have long
been stymied by the Home Office’s
refusal to change legislation to allow
it, despite the backing of the Scottish
Government.
‘Sadly, Glasgow suffered a
record number of drug-related
deaths last year and there was also
an increased number of non-fatal
overdoses,’ said interim GCHSCP
chief officer Susanne Millar. ‘This
challenging social issue demands
innovative treatments and this gold
standard service is leading the way
in Scotland. It is aimed at people
with the most chaotic lifestyles and
severe addictions who have not
responded to existing treatments.’
The service will be evaluated by
scientists from Glasgow Caledonian
University, who will be based at the
facility for two and a half years to
study its implementation, collate the
views of service users and staff and
develop good practice guidance.
4 • DRINK AND DRUGS NEWS • DEC 2019-JAN 2020
LAST YEAR saw more than
18,000 hospital admissions
for poisoning by drug misuse
in England, according to NHS
Digital, an increase of 6 per cent
on the previous year and 16 per
cent since 2012-13. Admissions
for drug-related mental and
Latest statistics
from PHE show a 7
per cent reduction
in the number
of young people
in contact with
alcohol and drug
services,
behavioural disorders fell by 14
per cent, however, to just over
7,300, although this is still 30 per
cent higher than a decade ago.
The latest statistics from PHE,
meanwhile, show a 7 per cent
reduction in the number of young
people in contact with alcohol
and drug services, to 14,485 –
down 40 per cent from a decade
ago. Almost 90 per cent of young
people accessing treatment did so
for cannabis, with 44 per cent for
alcohol, 14 per cent for ecstasy and
10 per cent for powder cocaine.
Less than 1 per cent sought
treatment for opiates, although the
number was up from 187 to 216
compared to the previous year.
Statistics on drug misuse,
England, 2019 at digital.nhs.uk;
Young people’s substance misuse
treatment statistics 2018 to 2019 at
www.gov.uk
Cocaine seizures highest
since records began
SEIZURES OF COCAINE in England
and Wales are up 12 per cent
compared to last year, according to
Home Office figures, while seizures
of crack increased by 20 per cent.
More than 9,600kg of cocaine
was seized in 2018-19, the largest
quantity since records began in
1973, while the quantity of crack
seized was the highest since 2004.
The quantity of ecstasy seized was
also the highest since 2006-07.
Meanwhile, Europeans are spending
at least EUR 30bn per year on
drugs at retail level, according to an
EMCDDA/Europol report. Almost 40
per cent of spending is on cannabis,
just over 30 per cent on cocaine and
a quarter on heroin. MDMA and
amphetamines account for 5 per
cent each.
Seizures of drugs, England and
Wales, financial year ending 2019 at
www.gov.uk
EU drug markets report 2019 at
www.emcdda.europa.eu
Alcohol deaths second
highest since millennium
LAST YEAR saw 7,551 alcohol-
specific deaths registered in the
UK, according to ONS. While this
was lower than the previous year’s
total of 7,697 it was still the second
highest since the time series began
in 2001. Alcohol-specific death rates
remain almost double for men than
women, and were highest among
men aged 55-59. Scotland had the
highest death rate, followed by
Wales and England. The highest
proportion of alcohol-specific
deaths were the result of alcoholic
liver disease.
Alcohol-specific deaths in the
UK: registered in 2018 at www.ons.
gov.uk
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