Scotland has witnessed a dramatic increase in overdose deaths and HIV infections among injecting drug users. in response, policy-makers in Glasgow are reported to be considering a proposal to open the first supervised injection site. David Liddell explains the current situation.
The EMCDDA met to discuss how the Council conclusions on the implementation of minimum quality standards in drug demand reduction in the EU can relate to projects at national, European and international level.
As heroin deaths rise in the UK, the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs has suggested a wide range of measres including opiate substitution therapy and supervised injecting rooms.
The EECA statement argues that the currently alarming epidemiologic situation and an envisioned decrease in funding, might affect the sustainability of the positive results worldwide in combating AIDS, and less effective implementation of the new global target: to end HIV by 2030.
Wastewater based epidemiology is a rapidly developing scientific discipline with the potential for monitoring near-real-time, population-level trends in illicit drug use.
Bluegreen Economics conclude that both the state government and cannabis consumers would realise a significant net benefit under a regulated and taxed recreational cannabis scheme.
Cannabis production should be regulated by the federal government, with licensing and production controls used to ensure a competitive system that includes small producers, the panel said, suggesting the door was open for new producers to get into the burgeoning sector.
