The number of kits issued in Scotland's pioneering programme to cut drug-related deaths (DRD) has risen by 10%, official statistics have revealed.

Since 2010 users of heroin and similar drugs can be given naloxone kits to reverse the effects of a potentially fatal opioid overdose.

The Scottish government-funded programme was introduced in an attempt to cut the number of drug deaths.

There are now calls for a similar scheme to be introduced in England.

Naloxone is a prescription-only drug in the UK but in Scotland it is legal for trained carers, hostel managers, drug users, and addicts' friends and family to carry in case of an emergency.

The figures, issued by the Scottish government's Information Services Division (ISD), show in the year 2015-16, a total of 8,146 take-home naloxone (THN) kits were issued, a 10% increase on the previous 12 months.

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Rise in anti-overdose naloxone kits to cut drug deaths in Scotland

The Myanmar government is receiving support from the UN to develop a new national drug policy, as the rates of opium cultivation continues to rise in the country.

Myanmar’s drug policy is currently governed by the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Law (1993). Under this legislation, people who use drugs face three years imprisonment if they fail to register their narcotic use. It is mandatory for all people who are registered as using drugs to attend so-called “drug rehabilitation” centres. These facilities are run by private non-governmental organisations, implementing unregulated treatment methods.

The government is also in the process of implementing a large-scale 20-year poppy eradication programme, which was launched in 1999.

UN supporting Myanmar drug reform as opium cultivation increases

Police in southern Vietnam are searching for more than 200 drug addicts who broke out of a compulsory rehabilitation centre. More than 500 inmates broke out of the centre in Dong Nai province on Sunday, some using fire extinguishers and sticks to smash walls and windows.

The centre holds almost 1,500 people, which is said to be twice its capacity. Human rights groups have denounced conditions at local rehab centres and mass breakouts have occurred before.

Hundreds of Vietnam drug addicts flee rehabilitation centre

A store in Alaska was set on Saturday to be the first in the state offering retail marijuana sales, with a grand opening scheduled for what the operators were calling “high noon”.

The planned opening of Herbal Outfitters in Valdez comes nearly two years after voters approved allowing people 21 and older to recreationally use pot.

Herbal Outfitters’ offerings will mark the first time it is legal to buy pot under the voter initiative approved in November 2014. Passage of the measure made it legal under state law to possess up to an ounce of marijuana outside of a home.

Alaska's first retail marijuana store set to open at 'high noon' two years after vote

Budding cannabis producers can now apply for a licence to legally grow the crop in Australia, for medicinal use only.

The Narcotic Drugs Amendment Act 2016, which came into effect on Sunday, allows businesses to apply for a licence to cultivate cannabis or manufacture cannabis products for medicinal purposes, or to conduct related research.

The health minister, Sussan Ley, said the changes would give patients and doctors access to a safe, reliable and legal source of cannabis for medicinal use.

Medicinal cannabis crops now legal in Australia

Harm reduction advocates are calling on the government of British Columbia to expand the scope of its safe-injection facilities beyond supervising only intravenous drug use, but medical officials say the focus should remain on needles because they pose the biggest health risk.

B.C. has been wracked by an overdose crisis that has claimed more than 550 lives since the beginning of 2016. About 60 per cent of those deaths have been linked to the opioid fentanyl, which has been detected in virtually every type of street drug, regardless of how the substance is consumed.

Ann Livingston, a harm-reduction worker in Vancouver, said people with addictions should have a place to go where they can feel safe using, whether they snort, smoke or inject their drugs.

“Anyone who’s doing anything needs to do it safely,” she said.

Expand British Columbia's supervised sites beyond overseeing only injection drugs, advocates say

Across the ocean from the Philippines, Indonesians refused to keep quiet about the drug-related killings in their neighboring country.

Earlier this month, Indonesian drug users from the Indonesian Drugs User Network (PKNI), gathered in front of the Philippine embassy in Jakarta carrying posters, protesting the drug war of Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte. (READ: 'Nanlaban sila': Duterte's war on drugs)

“Duterte is [a] mass serial killer,” read one poster. Another was more direct: “Stop killing people who use drugs.”

The harsher ones were unforgiving. A poster with Duterte’s face and a Hitler-like mustache was displayed alongside the words: “Duterte… Stop playing God!”

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