Drink and Drugs News DDN September 2018_V2 | Seite 5

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FOCUS ON PREVENTING DEATHS,
URGES NEW SCOTS CAMPAIGN
A NEW INITIATIVE launched at the Scottish
Drugs Forum’s (SDF) annual conference is
calling for a national focus on preventing
drug deaths, and reinforces the message
that ‘prevention is possible and we all have
our parts to play’.
#StopTheDeaths, which was timed to
mark International Overdose Awareness
Day on 31 August, wants to see all
stakeholders make the agenda a priority
and also offers a ‘message of hope’ – that
‘we can respond to record drug deaths by
developing a world-leading response to this
national challenge and aspire to eliminate
drug overdose deaths’.
The last three years have seen record
drug deaths in Scotland, with 867 in 2016 –
23 per cent up on the year before, and
almost double the figure from a decade ago
(DDN, September 2017, page 4) – rising by a
further 8 per cent to 934 in 2017 (DDN,
July/August, page 4). The #StopTheDeaths
initiative also focuses on drug-related
fatalities that are not the result of an
overdose, such as those caused by the
health effects of chronic drug use. The
campaign is aimed not just at policy makers
and service providers, but people who use
drugs and their families and communities.
‘From speaking to our members across
Scotland, it is clear that the number of drug-
related deaths continues to rise at what
now seems an exponential rate,’ said SDF’s
CEO David Liddell. ‘This means that in 2018
Scotland will almost certainly suffer over
1,000 preventable overdose deaths.
#StopTheDeaths is a call to refocus our
actions and to
draw attention to
evidence-based
approaches and
protective factors
that can be
deployed now.’
These included
making sure
people had fast
access to, and were
retained in, high
quality treatment
services, as well as
provision of a wide
range of therapies
– including heroin-
assisted treatment – and improved access
to take-home naloxone. SDF is also
launching a free e-learning course to
coincide with the campaign, covering how
to recognise an overdose and use
naloxone to reverse it.
‘The good news is that drug deaths are
being prevented every day in Scotland,’ Mr
Liddell added. ‘However, we need a step
change in terms of a co-ordinated
approach and further innovation that can
meet the scale of this challenge if we are
to avoid the course we appear to be on.
The Scottish Government’s new national
drug strategy is an opportunity to show
leadership, redirect the nation and decide
to end this tragic situation.’
www.overdoseday.com
Naloxone course at
www.sdfworkforcedevelopment.org.uk
CASH
GIVE-
AWAY
The Home
Office has
issued a series
of posters to
alert landlords
and letting
agents to signs
that a potential tenant might be involved in ‘county lines’ activity.
These include offering to pay upfront for a long period in cash, being
unable to provided references and renting an inexpensive property
despite appearing ‘affluent’. Posters at
www.gov.uk/government/publications/county-lines-posters-for-
letting-agents-and-landlords
www.drinkanddrugsnews.com
‘in 2018
scotland
will almost
certainly
suffer over
1,000
preventable
overdose
deaths’
dAvid liddell
GUIDELINE LOSSES
DRINKERS consuming more than the govern -
ment’s low-risk guideline of 14 units a week
make up a quarter of the population but pro -
vide 68 per cent of industry revenue, according
a study by Institute of Alcohol Studies (IAS) and
the University of Sheffield. If all drinkers stuck
to the guidelines the industry would lose
around £13bn, says How dependent is the
alcohol industry on heavy drinking in England?
‘The government should recognise just how
much the industry has to lose from effective
alcohol policies, and be more wary of its
attempts to derail meaning ful action through
lobbying and offers of voluntary partnership,’
said lead author Aveek Bhattacharya. Study at
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/add.
14386
BLATANT USE
DRUG TESTING suggested that a third of
prisoners in HMP Birmingham are using illicit
drugs, according to an inspectors’ report. The
prison was made the subject of an ‘urgent
notification’ to the justice secretary after an
inspection in August, and a governor and
management team from HM Prison Service
have since taken over its running from G4S. ‘I
have inspected many prisons where drugs are
a problem, but nowhere else have I felt
physically affected by the drugs in the
atmosphere – an atmosphere in which it is
clearly unsafe for prisoners and staff to live
and work,’ chief inspector of prisons Peter
Clarke wrote to justice secretary David Gauke.
‘Our own observations confirmed to us that
the use and trafficking of illegal substances
was blatant.’ Full inspection of: HMP
Birmingham 30 July – 9 August 2018 at
www.justiceinspectorates.gov.uk/hmiprisons/
HCV DEATHS DOWN
DEATHS FROM HEPATITIS C-related end-stage
liver disease fell by 11 per cent last year
compared to 2016, according to PHE. The fall,
after a decade of continuous increases, is ‘most
likely’ due to the growing use of new antiviral
medications available on the NHS – these ‘have
the potential to cure the condition in most
cases’ and also have fewer side effects than
previously used medications such as interferon.
The number of people accessing treatment is
also up by 19 per cent compared to the
previous year, and by 125 per cent on pre-2015
levels. ‘The fall in deaths from hepatitis C
related advanced liver disease in the last year
suggests that more people are accessing new,
potentially curative treatments and shows
we’re making positives steps towards reaching
our overall goal of elimination of hepatitis C as
a major public health threat,’ said PHE
consultant epidemiologist Dr Sema Mandal.
Hepatitis C in the UK: 2018 report at
www.gov.uk. See October’s DDN for an eight-
page pull out on hepatitis C
ALCOHOL AWARENESS
CHANGE IS THE THEME of this year’s Alcohol
Awareness Week, which runs from 19-25
November – ‘change is necessary, change is
possible, change is happening’. For more
information, visit www.alcoholconcern.org.uk/
alcohol-awareness-week. Meanwhile,
minimum pricing has now become law in
Wales after the Public Health (Minimum
Price for Alcohol) (Wales) Act received Royal
Assent. The act was approved by the
country’s National Assembly earlier in the
summer (DDN, July/August, page 4) with the
minimum pricing regime expected to come
into force in mid-2019.
September 2018 | drinkanddrugsnews | 5