Latest news with #KirstenHorsburgh
Daily Record
20-07-2025
- Health
- Daily Record
Drug-check facility roll-out needed to tackle rise of opioid overdoses, say campaigners
Rising numbers of drug deaths and overdoses are being linked to lab-made synthetic opioids like fentanyl - up to 50 times stronger than heroin. Facilities to test whether street drugs are laced with deadly synthetic opioids should be available in every community in Scotland, campaigners have urged. It comes as rising numbers of drug deaths and overdoses are being linked to lab-made drugs like fentanyl - up to 50 times stronger than heroin. The opioids are so strong they can cause drug users to overdose instantly. Drug-checking services (DCS) at sites in Glasgow, Aberdeen and Dundee have been proposed since last summer as part of a pilot scheme. However, the plans - which would allow drug users to test what's in their drugs - have been in limbo for more than a year as the Home Office is yet to approve them. A bid was also submitted for Edinburgh this year. Kirsten Horsburgh, CEO of the Scottish Drugs Forum, said: "The fact it has taken so long is, frankly, outrageous. "We say we have a public health emergency, a crisis around drug deaths, yet we can't even provide these services to people. "It's very frustrating and ultimately, delays in these sorts of things cost lives. "We need to stop tinkering around the edges. If we are serious about making significant change, we need to make significant investment and have fewer of these small-scale pilots and more full-scale rollouts for things that we know work and make sense." Horsburgh said Scotland should learn from countries like New Zealand, where a massive and mobile roll-out of DCS everywhere from street corners to festivals has helped reduce harm from drugs and encouraged users to be safer. Glasgow is home to the UK's first legal safe drug consumption facility, the Thistle, which opened in January in a bid to save lives. Scotland is the worst nation in Europe for drug deaths. There were 308 such deaths from January to March, up by 33 per cent on the last three months of 2024. Data had showed a decrease in the number of suspected deaths over the year. There were 1053 suspected drug deaths in the 12 months to March 2025, meaning 166 (14 per cent) fewer such deaths than in the 12 months to March 2024, when the total was 1219. It's understood the recent rise follows reports of dealers flooding the streets with new breeds of heroin laced with fentanyl and other lethal 'nitazenes', also known as synthetic opioids – with the potential to compound Scotland's drug deaths epidemic. The presence of nitazenes in street narcotics is known to drastically raise the risk of fatal overdose - and in some cases, can cause instantaneous collapse. Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Alex Cole Hamilton said: 'When 100 people a month are dying in Scotland's drug deaths emergency, missed targets and patchwork care isn't good enough. 'If ministers are serious about delivering, they need to properly support services and staff, roll out a network of safe consumption rooms and introduce new drug-checking facilities. "Drug checking services allow people to make informed decisions about what they are taking and reduce the risk of accidentally overdosing. 'That's especially important when we are seeing a rise in dangerous synthetic opioids, which can be 50 times as strong as heroin and are often disguised as other drugs." Hosburgh said: "Normally there would be a slower onset of an overdose. "But what people have been reporting more frequently in a number of areas across the country is people using the drug and overdosing immediately, which is quite unusual. "That would indicate a more powerful, potent substance within what people are using and quite often that is determined to be a nitazene." Andy Paterson, of the student-led Help Not Harm campaign which wants to see DCS available for every community in Scotland, said: 'These things come down to political will. If we wanted to set these services up, it would be quite doable.' Join the Daily Record WhatsApp community! Get the latest news sent straight to your messages by joining our WhatsApp community today. You'll receive daily updates on breaking news as well as the top headlines across Scotland. No one will be able to see who is signed up and no one can send messages except the Daily Record team. All you have to do is click here if you're on mobile, select 'Join Community' and you're in! If you're on a desktop, simply scan the QR code above with your phone and click 'Join Community'. We also treat our community members to special offers, promotions, and adverts from us and our partners. If you don't like our community, you can check out any time you like. To leave our community click on the name at the top of your screen and choose 'exit group'. If you're curious, you can read our Privacy Notice. Drugs Policy Minister Maree Todd said: 'We are determined to continue our efforts to reduce drug-related harm and save lives. Through our National Mission on drugs we are taking a range of action, including the provision of new drug checking facilities. 'We continue to work at pace with partners to deliver these facilities across all our pilot cities as soon as possible.' The Home Office, which is understood to have inspected the proposed pilot sites in Dundee and Aberdeen last year, was approached for comment.
Glasgow Times
09-06-2025
- Health
- Glasgow Times
Mike Dailly: Prisoners in Scotland need hope not needles
The inquiry runs until late August. It will examine the effectiveness of drug detection and prevention strategies and the role of organised criminal networks in prison narcotic supply. Worryingly, the committee has heard that around 17 per cent of prisoners who weren't drug users before incarceration become substance users once in jail. Drugs enter prisons through various ways, including the use of drones to fly them onto the prison estate. Synthetic cannabinoids are prevalent along with bromazolam, benzodiazepines, cocaine and steroids. Drugs come in a range of formats, including paper, card, powder or a waxy substance. Kirsten Horsburgh, chief executive officer at the Scottish Drugs Forum (SDF) gave evidence to the committee on May 28. The SDF is a Scottish charity whose vision is for 'A Scotland free from drug-related health and social harm'. Its funding comes ostensibly from the Scottish Government and other statutory bodies. At the committee's May meeting, Ms Horsburgh said: 'We need to have the uncomfortable discussion about what harm reduction in prison means. Does it mean providing safer injecting equipment or safer smoking equipment? Does it mean having discussions with people about how they can use their drugs more safely?' The proposal made a stir. Are we now suggesting supplying free needles to prisoners to inject themselves with drugs? Giving out free vapes so people can smoke cannabis in jail? Annmarie Ward, chief executive officer of Faces and Voice for Recovery UK (FAVOR) believes the SDF's position is nonsensical. She said: 'Apparently, the answer to Scotland's prison drug crisis isn't less drugs in prisons, but more syringes to help the problem go smoothly. It's like solving knife crime by handing out free whetstones'. Annmarie notes that the Scottish Prison Service say violence in prisons is rising. Drugs are being flown in on drones. Inmates are vaping benzos and mixing synthetic opioids into their tea. She ridicules the SDF's answer to this problem by making drug use easier for inmates. We need to ask: Is this all we have to offer people in prison? Have we given up and now seek managerial solutions for human decline? For Annmarie Ward, the problem in Scotland is the lack of access to abstinence treatment, detox and rehabilitation services. Which is why FAVOR have backed a Right to Addiction Recovery Bill – currently being considered by the Scottish Parliament - introduced by Douglas Ross MSP. In England, some prisons offer abstinence-based recovery wings, acknowledging that going into prison might be a vital chance to break the cycle of drug use. We don't offer this in Scotland. Why not? As Annmarie Ward said: 'Prisons should be places where people are interrupted in their addiction, not supported in it. Where the chaos stops, not where it's managed more hygienically. "Needles and vape kits in Barlinnie won't restore dignity. They'll entrench dependency and signal, loud and clear, that the state has given up on these men'. If we want to achieve real harm reduction, we need to give human beings hope. We need to give people access to detox and rehabilitation.
