SDF provides an overview of range of what we do and who we work with to help prevent damaging drug use and promoting sustainable recovery from drug problems.

La SDF está principalmente preocupada por las muertes relacionadas con las drogas en toda Europa, por el nivel de infecciones virales transmitidas por la sangre y por el impacto creciente del consumo de psico-estimulantes.

Le SDF est principalement préoccupé par les décès causés par la drogue à travers l’Europe, par le niveau d’infections virales transmissibles par voie sanguine, et par l’impact grandissant de l’usage de psychostimulants.

Scottish Drugs Forum

Scottish Drugs Forum’s annual #StopTheDeaths conference returns in 2026 with a two-day event dedicated to reducing drug-related deaths and harms. This year’s conference takes place on Wednesday, 26 and Thursday, 27 August at the Radisson Blu Hotel in Glasgow.

Timed to mark International Overdose Awareness Day, the conference will bring together key stakeholders, including people with living and lived experience, policymakers, service providers, and health and social care professionals. Together, we will explore democratic policy development, service improvement and harm reduction practices.

Inequality, policy and the human impact of drug harms

The first day of our Stop The Deaths conference focuses on poverty and inequality as key drivers of drug-related harm, deepening understanding of how structural disadvantage, deprivation and social exclusion shape patterns of substance use – and highlighting the urgent need for responses rooted in equity and social justice.

Sessions will explore the impact of drug-related deaths on families and young people, alongside the significant – and often overlooked – role of alcohol in wider substance-related harm.

Set within a rapidly evolving political landscape, the programme will support delegates to understand and respond to national priorities, government decision-making and global drug policy developments.

Emerging trends, substances and innovative responses

Day Two offers a forward-looking exploration of current and emerging issues in substance use, highlighting new trends, research and practical responses.

Sessions will examine substances of growing concern, including cocaine and ketamine, alongside innovative approaches such as drug checking services. Delegates will gain a deeper understanding of evolving patterns of use and their implications for practice, policy and service delivery.

A dedicated focus on neurodiversity and substance use will offer insight into how different cognitive experiences intersect with drug use, helping professionals better recognise and respond to diverse support needs.

Peer-led research will feature strongly throughout the programme, bringing forward real-world evidence and perspectives from affected communities to support meaningful, context-driven practice.

#StopTheDeaths conference 2026

In January 2021, the former First Minister announced a new National Mission to reduce drug-related deaths, acknowledging that responsibility for Scotland's tragic and preventable loss of life "rests - first and foremost - with government". Since then, Scotland has taken important steps forward, introducing innovative and increasingly evidence-led approaches. But, despite the ambition behind the National Mission, more than 4,500 people have lost their lives to drugs since 2021 - leaving behind devastated families, grieving communities and a country still struggling to confront a decades-long public health crisis. As we approach the next Scottish Parliament elections, the message is clear: we cannot become complacent, and we cannot slow down. The next parliamentary term will bring a significant number of new MSPs - and with that comes a rare and meaningful opportunity to reinforce and accelerate Scotland's shift toward compassionate, evidence-based and rights-led policy, ensuring that people with living and lived experience genuinely shape decisions at every level. We call on all political parties to seize that opportunity. Show courage. Follow the evidence. Refuse to accept preventable deaths as inevitable. And work collaboratively - across government portfolios, with the third sector and alongside the people most affected - to deliver the bold, sustained, transformational change that Scotland urgently needs.

A National Mission for Change: Putting People, Evidence and Rights at the Heart of Scotland’s Drug Policy  

The interactive webinar organised by Correlation – European Harm Reduction Network

 aims to provide a platform for reflecting on the current landscape of naloxone policies and practices across Europe, highlighting both achievements and ongoing challenges.

The event will include expert presentations, case studies from different European countries, and a panel discussion to explore legal, policy, and operational barriers that limit naloxone availability, as well as advocacy strategies to tackle them. Participants will have the opportunity to ask questions and share insights during the Q&A session.

(Norwegian Association for Humane Drug Policy – Foreningen for Human Ruspolitikk – FHR, Norway)

(European Network of People Who Use Drugs – EuroNPUD)

(Correlation – European Harm Reduction Network)

Scaling up naloxone access in Europe: overcoming challenges

The European City Initiative on Drug Policy (ECIDP), launched by Correlation - European Harm Reduction Network (C-EHRN), recognises the crucial role of cities as front runners in responding to drug use and related health and social challenges. With over two thirds of Europeans living in urban areas, cities are at the frontline of emerging drug trends and the development of innovative harm reduction and policy approaches. The ECIDP aims to bridge the gap between local realities and national/EU strategies by providing a platform for knowledge exchange, joint advocacy, and tailored support for municipalities and local service providers. 

Following city consultations held between the months of May and August 2025 with city drug coordinators, city councillors, harm reduction service providers, and members of civil society organisations, the ECIDP is working towards building an informal network of mayors, policymakers, civil society, and affected communities to share experiences on urban drug use, emerging drug trends, and local approaches to tackle the challenges that come with these experiences.

This report brings together findings from city consultations on harm reduction across Europe. It highlights common challenges, city-specific priorities, and innovative best practices that can inform stronger, more resilient, harm reduction strategies. The current list of cities participating in these sessions are the following: Amsterdam (Netherlands), Athens (Greece), Berlin (Germany), Bologna (Italy), Bratislava (Slovakia), Brussels (Belgium), Budapest (Hungary), Esch-sur-Alzette (Luxembourg), Glasgow (Scotland), Milan (Italy), Munich (Germany), Prague (Czechia), Turin (Italy), Vienna (Austria), and Zurich (Switzerland).

European cities on the frontline: Harm reduction and drug policy – needs, best practices and recommendations

Scotland has made an inadequate response to the on-going public health emergency and now faces the emerging threat of a drug supply containing new synthetic opioids. This situation demands the urgent implementation of the full range of evidence-based practice and policy now.

All individuals and organisations must work to deliver the National Mission to Reduce Drug Deaths.

It is evident that Scotland needs to adopt the practice and policy measures developed in other countries to address the very issues we now face. Therefore we must, without further delay, implement an emergency plan to:

Support positive health-focused engagement with people who use drugs through a process of 

decriminalisation of the possession of drugs for personal use

 through the use of alternatives to prosecution for ALL people, for ALL drugs in ALL circumstances.

Monitor changes in drug supply – including dangerous synthetic opioids – and ensure people involved in drug use know the risks associated with the substances being supplied through street supply. This can partly be achieved by providing 

 where people can submit small samples of drugs for analysis and then receive a list of the substances these street drugs contain.

Ensure that people experiencing drug problems and using drugs in street-based environments and other people particularly vulnerable to harm, including fatal and near-fatal overdose, can have immediate support in case of an overdose and access to information and support services through the provision of 

 wherever in Scotland there are people who would be protected and supported by using them.

Ensure people most vulnerable to fatal overdose involving opiates (the vast majority of fatal overdoses in Scotland) are able to access effective means to prevent death in the event of overdose through 

maximising Scotland’s national naloxone programme

 which includes ensuring people are supplied with naloxone at every opportunity, with a strong emphasis on peer-led distribution.

Attract a far higher proportion of people who could benefit from treatment into treatment by delivering 

accessible and acceptable treatment services

 grounded in connection and compassion for all people experiencing drug problems.

Scottish Drugs Forum statement on Scotland’s public health emergency

 Conference 10.00 – 16.00 (Registration from 09.30)


 The Grand Room & Grand Foyer, Grand Central Hotel, 99 Gordon St, Glasgow G1 3SF

SDF unites stakeholder perspectives which are too often marginalised in drugs debates. This event will identify shared themes, interests and issues of concern and explore means by which these stakeholders can become empowered to achieve Scotland’s national mission to reduce drug-related deaths and improve lives.

This conference will prioritise the perspectives of marginalised stakeholders and have sessions dedicated to their perspectives, interests and concerns. These sessions will foster inclusive and engaging whole-room discussion as well as expert presentations.

SDF can offer a limited number of free places at this event.

Priority will be given to people with experience of a drug problem; who are not employed in drugs or related work areas; and who have been unable to secure funding locally through their local services or Alcohol and Drug Partnership or other organisation.

Anyone wanting to apply for a free place should contact 

Places are limited and this is likely to be heavily oversubscribed.

Applications must be made before Friday 4th August 2023

Anyone who is being offered a free place will be contacted and need to confirm that they will attend the conference.

Supporting Change: Amplifying Voices - Scottish Drugs Forum's conference

As organisations that work in drug policy and harm reduction, we welcome the evidence-based proposals in the new report published by the Scottish Government proposing a road map for the future of drug policy and law in Scotland. We share the view of the report that drug policy based on health and human rights achieves better outcomes for individuals, their families, communities and wider society.

In recognition of the damaging global impact of criminalisation, the United Nations 

 a legal and policy position that promotes the reduction of harm and the decriminalisation of people who use drugs. We welcome this report as a step towards the UN’s position, and the development of effective policy and services in Scotland.

Ending criminal sanctions for people in possession of drugs for personal use; the provision of a full range of harm reduction services and support; and improvement in the accessibility and acceptability of treatment services for people who experience drug dependency are all required to address the public health emergency that Scotland has been in for some years.

Scotland has made progress on all these fronts, and yet the prevalence of people experiencing drug dependence, and the number of drug related deaths remain very high by international standards, underpinned by persistent broader health inequalities. Further innovation and investment is clearly required.

We further support the proposed evidence-led review into how the use of drugs, their production and supply could be regulated. This review would inform a debate around wider reforms to drugs legislation.

We welcome the recognition of the harmful role that criminalisation, poverty and stigma, play in the lives of so many. People who use drugs, especially those who experience dependence, face discrimination every day, and the Scottish Government’s desire to end the exclusion of this group from equality legislation is to be commended.

We also welcome the Scottish Government’s acknowledgment and commitment to centring those with living and lived experience in policy making and implementation.

UK legislation and regulations, especially the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971, serve as an impediment to many of the urgently needed evidence-based reforms highlighted in the report, including the decriminalisation of drug possession; the provision of supervised drug consumption facilities and drug safety checking services; and even heroin assisted treatment.

Scotland has developed innovative responses using its own legal system, police force, healthcare system and civic society. Progress has already been made in terms of the extension of recorded warnings for drug possession, policing arrangements and the legal basis for injecting equipment provision services and its world-leading take home naloxone programme. Scotland must also use these same assets to deliver supervised drug consumption rooms and drug checking services as a matter of urgency.

Drug-related deaths are at an all-time high, in Scotland and across the UK. The UK Government must either work to reform legislation to enable the vital reforms proposed in this report across all four nations, or sufficiently devolve powers to allow each country to enact these policies themselves in order to save lives, and support communities.

INPUD – International Network of People who Use Drugs

EuroNPUD – European Network of People who Use Drugs

Jason Kew, Senior Innovative Practice Officer,

IDPC joins NGO coalition's response to Scottish Government's report on drug policy reform

'There were maybe 20 services, mostly two people and a dog,’ says outgoing Scottish Drugs Forum CEO Dave Liddell of Scotland’s drugs sector in the mid ‘80s. ‘There were no local planning structures or anything, so you had almost a blank sheet to develop policies and ideas.’ 

He’s retiring this month, having worked at SDF since it was set up in 1986 – the longest job he’d had before ‘was about 18 months,’ he says, so his tenure has safely beaten that record. He’d previously trained as a biochemist, then become a social worker before going to work for SCODA, the forerunner of DrugScope. 

Parts of Scotland were already in the grip of a serious heroin problem when SDF was set up, and he was one of the people calling for the establishment of needle exchanges. ‘There was a complete lack of knowledge in terms of the development of anything like that, but obviously HIV drove those changes so even the Tory government at the time had to agree to needle exchanges being developed.’

Change of scene: Former Scottish Drugs Forum CEO David Liddell's final interview 

 Platform, 253 Argyle Street, Glasgow, G2 8DL

This conference will bring together a diverse range of speakers from across the UK and Europe to examine the valuable lessons learned over the past 35 years of responding to drug-related issues, with a particular focus on the Scottish context. Equally important, the conference will take stock of our current situation and look ahead to emerging themes and challenges that lie ahead.

 Whole Systems Unit Head, Drug Policy Division, Scottish Government 

 – Professor of Addiction Medicine and retired GP 

 Professor in Psychology, Bangor University and former SDF chair 

 Professor of Substance Use and Inclusion Health, University of Stirling

 Research assistant, University of Stirling

 – Associate Medical Director, Addiction Services at NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde

 International Network and Programme Director Correlation-European Harm Reduction Network

 Principal Scientist at European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA)

 Physician and Safer Supply Prescriber at London Intercommunity Health Centre, London, Ontario, Canada

Scottish Drugs Forum

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