News
LOCAL AUTHORITIES FAILING TO
PROVIDE SUFFICIENT NALOXONE
THE AMOUNTS OF NALOXONE BEING PROVIDED BY
LOCAL COUNCILS AND PRISONS are ‘extremely limited’,
warns a new report from Release. While all but three of
the 152 local authorities who responded to Freedom of
Information requests now supply the overdose-reversing
medication – up from 90 per cent a year ago (DDN,
February 2018, page 4) – the amount being dispensed is
still ‘drastically insufficient’, says Release.
Just 16 take-home
kits were provided for
every 100 people using
opiates in 2017-18,
equating to 16 per cent
coverage, with many
areas also failing to
provide kits to ‘key
populations most likely
to experience or
witness’ an overdose.
Almost 60 per cent
failed to provide kits to
clients accessing
opioid-related
treatment or services at community pharmacies, a
quarter did not provide them to people in contact with
outreach services for homeless populations, and more
than 10 per cent failed to supply them to families and
friends of people who use opioids.
While Darlington was the only local authority in
England that did not report either having a take-home
programme or plans to introduce one, low levels of
coverage elsewhere were ‘particularly shameful’ given
record rates of opioid-related deaths and the fact that
naloxone is ‘cheap to acquire and has no potential for
misuse’, says Release.
Many prisons were also failing to provide naloxone
despite the acknowledged high risk of overdose in the
first two weeks after people are released, the report says.
Just over half of the 109 prisons that reported on take-
home naloxone had a programme in place, and only one
in five young offenders institutions. Failing to provide kits
DIVERSIONS
DOWN
ILLEGAL DIVERSIONS OF DIAZEPAM
FELL BY MORE THAN 70 PER CENT
BETWEEN 2016 AND 2017, according
to MHRA figures, with trading of
zolpidem and top-strength
temazepam also both down by nearly
20 per cent. ‘We will continue to track
down and prosecute those recklessly
endangering public safety by illegally
selling prescription medicines,’ said
MHRA head of enforcement Alastair Jeffrey.
‘Those involved have no concern about your
4 | drinkanddrugsnews | March 2019
to people upon release meant that prisons were not
fulfilling their duty of care, the charity states.
Release is calling for each authority to provide at least
one kit to every person in the community using opiates,
as well as making kits available to anyone else who
requests them. People not in contact with treatment
should be able to easily access naloxone through
distribution points like community pharmacies, GP
SHORT ODDS
NEW STANDARDS TO PROTECT CHILDREN
from ‘irresponsible’ gambling advertising have
been published by the Committee of
Advertising Practice (CAP). The guidelines
prohibit online gambling adverts being
targeted at people ‘likely to be under 18’,
along with the use of celebrities, sportspeople
or others who are – or appear to be – under
25 as well as ‘unacceptable’ content that
includes licensed characters from films or TV,
such as certain types of animated characters.
‘Playing at the margins of regulatory
compliance is a gamble at the best of times,
but for gambling advertisers it’s particularly
ill-advised, especially when the welfare of
children is at stake,’ said CAP director Shahriar
Coupal. Protecting children and young people –
gambling guidance at www.asa.org.uk
ADMISSIONS UP
surgeries, ambulance services and peer networks, it adds,
while every adult prison should also offer kits and
training to everyone prior to release on an ‘opt-out’ basis.
‘There is a crisis of drug-related deaths in this country
and many local authorities are failing to protect people
from fatally overdosing on opioids,’ said policy researcher
at Release, Zoe Carre. ‘The amount of take-home
naloxone given out nationally has been abysmally low.
This life-saving medication is not reaching those who
most need it. People who use drugs are an extremely
stigmatised group in society, facing significant health
risks, which are exacerbated by the government’s
ideological abstinence-focused approach to drug use. If
any other group of people were needlessly facing barriers
to accessing a cheap and effective life-saving medication,
there would be widespread public outrage.’
Finding a needle in a haystack: take-home naloxone in
England 2017/18 at www.release.org.uk
‘Those involved have
no concern about your
health and are making
money from vulnerable
people.’ AlAsTAir Jeffrey
health and are making money from
vulnerable people.’
THERE WERE 338,000 HOSPITAL ADMISSIONS
in 2017-18 where the ‘main cause’ was a
result of drinking alcohol, according to NHS
Digital, a 15 per cent increase on a decade
ago. People over 45 accounted for almost 70
per cent of the admissions. The figures are
based on a meas ure where alcohol-related
diseases, conditions or injuries were the
primary reason for admission – using the
broader measure of ‘a range of other
conditions that could be caused by alcohol’,
admission numbers rise to 1.2m. Statistics on
alcohol, England 2019 at digital.nhs.uk
MAYORAL MOTION
A MOTION CALLING ON LONDON MAYOR
SADIQ KHAN TO ‘TAKE THE LEAD’ on raising
awareness of hepatitis C has been unanimously
passed in the London Assembly. The motion
was tabled by assembly member Susan Hall,
who told the recent Seven years to elimination
conference that it was ‘a travesty’ that hep C
had not been part of the mayor’s report into
health inequalities (DDN, February, page 13).
‘Tackling hepatitis C is a common-sense issue
which can deliver immense improvements to
quality of life for some of the most marginalised
people in society, as well as huge cost savings,’
said LJWG policy lead Dee Cunniffe. ‘London
could be the first city in the world to eliminate
this deadly virus if efforts are ramped up.’
WHO DRINKS?
WHO HAS ISSUED A NEW SERIES OF
FACTSHEETS on alcohol consumption and
policy for 30 European countries. In 2016,
more than 40 per cent of EU traffic deaths
and over 20 per cent of injury deaths were
the result of alcohol. Alcohol consumption,
harm and policy response fact sheets at
www.who.int.
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