DRUG ADDICTS TO GET LIFE-SAVING OVERDOSE KITS
Naloxone medication to reverse the effects of opioids to be handed out by three ambulance workers
OVERDOSE prevention kits will be given out to addicts in their homes across Scotland following a successful pilot programme.
The move is part of new efforts to tackle Scotland’s shocking drug death numbers – now the worst in Europe.
Three full-time Scottish Ambulance Service staff will hand out Naloxone kits to people most at risk of dying – with a focus on those treated by crews for accidental overdoses.
A three-month takehome Naloxone pilot scheme ran in Glasgow last year. It is now being rolled out across Scotland at a cost of £137,000, met by the Scottish Drug Deaths Task Force.
Paramedic crews responded to about 5000 incidents in which the heroin antidote was administered in 2019.
Naloxone in the homes of those with often chaotic drug addictions can mean family members are on hand to stop them dying.
Kits will be supplied at incidents after 999 has been called for a person experiencing an accidental overdose.
Angela Constance, minister for drugs policy, said: “We know Naloxone is a very effective way of reducing death by overdose. By providing take-home kits in certain circumstances, there is a chance a relative or friend will be able to administer it early in the episode, increasing the prospects of a successful outcome.
“But we want to help people long before they get to the point of a lifethreatening overdose.
“We are embarking on a new national mission to reduce drugs deaths. It will have people with lived experience, and their families, front and centre.”
Dr Jim Ward, medical director for the Scottish Ambulance Service, said: “The funding provided by the task force has allowed us three full-time posts supporting the work of our clinicians across Scotland to further increase focus and momentum on how we can help save more lives and prevent drug-related harm.
“We are strengthening our relationship with local drug ser vices and progressing plans to signpost patients affected by drug use to services who have a key role in support and prevention of drug-related harm.”
Scotland was the first country in the world to introduce a Naloxone programme, with the Scottish Government providing more than £ 1million in funding between 2011 and 2016.
But drug deaths have soared and it has been suggested a focus on Naloxone ahead of more costly treatments has been like putting a sticking plaster on a gaping wound.
First Minister Nicola Sturgeon will chair a meeting of the task
force next week.