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Daily news - 5th March 2025 |
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UK news
Safer drugs consumption facility in Glasgow used more than 1,000 times since opening
The Thistle - based in Glasgow's east end - allows users to consume drugs under supervision in a clean and hygienic environment | Sky News, UK
Committee to investigate workings of Glasgow’s Safer Drug Consumption Facility
The Scottish Affairs Committee will question representatives from Glasgow City Health and Social Care Partnership, NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde, and Glasgow City Council in the second session of its inquiry into Glasgow’s pilot Safer Drug Consumption Facility (SCDF).At the time of this session, the facility, also known as ‘The Thistle’ will have been open for 7 weeks. The Committee is likely to ask about the barriers to opening the facility, how the proposal for the facility has developed over time, and how effective it has been since it opened in January. Watch on parliament TV on Wednesday 5 March 2025, from 9.45am | UK Parliament, UK
National naloxone programme Scotland - Quarterly monitoring bulletin
This release by Public Health Scotland (PHS) presents information on the number of take-home naloxone kits issued by the National Naloxone Programme (NNP) in Scotland. Figures are presented separately for kits issued from community outlets, kits issued in prisons at the point of liberation, kits dispensed via community prescription, and kits issued by Scottish Ambulance Service | PHS, UK
Estimated numbers of people prescribed opioid substitution therapy in Scotland
In the 12-month period ending 30 September 2024 (the end of 2024/25 Q2), Opioid Substitution Therapy (OST) was prescribed to an estimated minimum of 29,126 people in Scotland. In the 12 months to the end of the previous financial year quarter (2024/25 Q1) an estimated minimum of 29,476 people were prescribed OST | PHS, UK
UK death rate 'reaches record low'
The registered death rate in the UK steadily halved from 1974 to 2011 largely driven by improvements in tackling heart disease, including smoking prevention and medical advances | BBC, UK
Ketamine addict's death sparks coroner warning
A coroner has written to the home secretary over his concerns about young people's use of ketamine after a 25-year-old man died after taking it for years | BBC, UK
Bottling Up Trouble: alcohol, workplaces, and the need for change - podcast
On this month’s podcast we spoke to Tabbin Almond, alcohol-freedom coach and author of the recent book: ‘Bottling Up Trouble: How alcohol is harming your business... and what to do about it’. Tabbin shares insights from her work helping people change their relationship with alcohol | IAS, UK
High Returns: The economic benefits of UK cannabis legalisation
This report evaluates the economic impacts of legalising and regulating cannabis for adult non-medical use in the UK from a Treasury perspective of income and spending. The report focuses on government revenues (corporation and income tax, VAT, National Insurance, licensing fees, and, in the scenario of a state monopoly model, profits), savings across the criminal justice system (CJS) from reduced costs on enforcement, and the costs of administering a regulatory model | Transform, UK
Speak up 100% anonymously about lethal man-made drugs in Scotland
We've launched a campaign in Scotland to tackle the increase in synthetic opioid drug importing and manufacture, and the serious violence and exploitation associated with it | Crimestoppers, UK
Sombreros souvenir passenger hid £5m cocaine haul
A man who tried to smuggle cocaine worth more than £5m into Scotland from Mexico told staff he had only brought sombreros back from his trip | BBC, UK
Gangland killer headed up drugs gang from prison
A gangland killer has admitted continuing to head up a drug trafficking gang from behind bars to pay for a lavish lifestyle for his partner and daughter | BBC, UK
International news
Documenting the early impact of the US foreign aid directives on harm reduction programming
On January 24, 2025, U.S. Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, issued an immediate halt to most foreign aid programmes for 90 days, pending a comprehensive review to ensure alignment with the current administration’s values and policies. Since then, it has been made public that approximately 10,000 US foreign aid grants, awards and contracts have been, or will be terminated over the coming days | IDPC, UK
How the price of beer could sway Australia’s next election
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese is attempting to boost his popularity ahead of an election due by May | Independent, UK
An exploration of women and crack cocaine use in Ballymun: trajectories, experiences, and interventions
Crack cocaine in Ballymun remains a persistent feature of the local drug patterns of use as well as within sale and supply networks despite an active response from multiple agencies, in the five years since the 2019 report. Responses have included targeted operations/seizures; greater knowledge on patterns of use; crack cocaine specific training for practitioners and services; enhanced service responses including expanded outreach, crack pipes distribution and harm reduction information... | Ballymun Youth Action Project, Ireland
Dutch slam Commission over ‘harmful’ tobacco delays
The Dutch health minister is urging the Commission to put “comprehensive restrictions on flavours, maximum nicotine levels and plain packaging” on e-cigarettes and other nicotine products, according to a letter seen by Euractiv | Euractiv, Belgium
Marijuana gummies send 11 New York middle-schoolers to hospitals
Police and a middle school in suburban New York are looking into how a student got hold of marijuana gummies and gave them to about a dozen schoolmates, sending 11 of them to hospitals | Medical Xpress, USA
Prescription drug misuse rates higher among adults with disabilities
Adults with disabilities are nearly twice as likely to misuse prescription drugs as adults without disabilities, according to West Virginia University research | News Medical, USA
Inside Rhode Island’s Pioneering Overdose Prevention Center
In January, the United States’ first state-sanctioned overdose prevention center (OPC) began operations in Providence, Rhode Island. Run by harm reduction service provider Project Weber/RENEW (PWR) with support from its clinical partner VICTA, the site, which opened in December, also houses a new drop-in center and substance use treatment services | Filter Magazine, USA
Blogs, comment and opinion
Standing Together on U.S. Cuts
The recent decision by the U.S. administration to terminate USAID programmes threatens devastating consequences for people who use drugs and other marginalised communities worldwide | INPUD, UK