The UK’s first Home Office licensed regular drug checking service is set to launch in Bristol this month, delivered by leading non-profit harm reduction organisation The Loop. In partnership with Bristol City Council, The Loop will be bringing its pioneering service, which combines personalised health advice with drug testing, to central Bristol.


To be funded by Bristol City Council, operated by The Loop’s team of professional chemists and healthcare workers, and run in a multi-agency partnership with Bristol Drugs Project (BDP) and The People’s Republic of Stokes Croft (PRSC), the trailblazing evidence-based health service aims to reduce high risk drug-taking and build a fuller picture of the illicit drug market in the local area.


Illicit substances can be tested, with testing proven to reduce drug-related harm. Completely confidential and free to access, it is set to open its doors for the first time on 28th May 2022 and will run once a month, with additional opening hours around significant local events.


Professor Fiona Measham (Director of The Loop and Chair in Criminology at the University of Liverpool):

“As the first and only dedicated drug checking service provider in the UK, The Loop has been working for nearly a decade to establish regular drug checking services direct to the public and we are extremely grateful to the Home Office for issuing the licence to be able to offer this vital service. The Loop has a proven track record of designing and delivering evidence-based innovative interventions to engage with people otherwise not in touch with health services and to support them in making safer choices. Furthermore, the intelligence on local drug markets gained from drug checking is shared with stakeholders to inform emergency services, public health surveillance networks, and wider drug using communities. We would also like to thank our local partners for their support in introducing this groundbreaking multi-agency initiative.”


The new drug testing service aligns with the aspirations set out in the Bristol Drug and Alcohol strategy. Bristol City Councillor Ellie King, Cabinet Lead for Public Health, Communities, and Bristol One City said:

“We welcome The Loop’s successful application for a Home Office licence for a new Drug Testing Service for Bristol which is an innovative approach to saving lives and reducing harm to our communities. As the first city in the UK to have a regular drug checking service in the heart of the city we will be able to provide communities with access to factual, scientific, evidence-based information about drugs they may consume and that are in circulation throughout the wider city.

This, alongside the one-on-one trained healthcare consultation, will empower people to make safer, informed decisions and access drug treatment and further support. Bristol is leading the way in this public health approach to keeping people safe around drugs shows that, as a city, we put our people’s wellbeing at the forefront of decision making.”


Drug checking services have operated successfully across Europe for four decades and have been piloted in UK cities and events by The Loop since 2016. Drug checking provides a vital opportunity for people to access accurate, timely, and relevant information to make more informed decisions about drugs. Service users surrender substances of concern for laboratory analysis by chemists and the results are shared with them as part of a personalised health consultation with a health professional.




How will it work?
Service users take substances of concern to BDP, place them into an amnesty box on the ground floor, then about an hour later go to PRSC where they receive individually tailored, non-judgemental healthcare consultations and test results from health professionals. In that intervening hour, a pop-up lab in BDP will analyse the substance using a number of chemical tests to identify the contents and strength of the substance of concern. The laboratory has a Home Office licence to handle controlled drugs.


Location: The sample drop-off and Loop pop-up laboratory are located at Bristol Drug Project. The healthcare consultations will take place at PRSC.

When: Once per month for a year, on payday weekend, the last weekend of the month, plus additionally ahead of Pride, LSTD, and the festive season.

Who: The Loop is providing the drug checking service funded by Bristol City Council, using Bristol Drugs Project and PRSC premises.

HO licence: This is the first Home Office licensed regular drug checking service in the UK (the only previous HO licensed drug checking service was a small 4-day pilot in Weston Super Mare, of which The Loop was a partner).

Set up for service users: Service users take substances of concern to BDP, surrender them into an amnesty box on the ground floor, then an hour later go to PRSC where they receive healthcare consultations and test results from health professionals. In that intervening hour, a pop-up lab in BDP will analyse the substance using a number of chemical tests to identify the contents and strength of the substance of concern for harm reduction purposes and to provide drug market monitoring information to emergency and support services across the city.

The UK's first regular drug checking service set to launch in Bristol this month

The number of executions globally rose 20 percent in 2021, while the number of death sentences handed down increased by 40 percent, rights group Amnesty International has said.

“The increase in executions was primarily driven by rises in the yearly figure for Iran (from at least 246 in 2020 to at least 314 in 2021, a 28% increase), which was the highest figure on record since 2017,” the report said. “The spike in Iran appeared particularly for executions of people convicted of drug-related offences (132), which represented 42% of the total and constituted a more than five-fold rise from 2020.”

The figures do not include China, where thousands are thought to be executed or sentenced to death each year in a system shrouded in secrecy. Amnesty said secrecy in North Korea and Vietnam, as well as the difficulty in accessing information on the use of the death penalty “continued to impair a full assessment of global trends”.

Malaysia also continued with a moratorium on executions and the government said it would prepare legislative changes on the use of the death penalty by the third quarter of this year. Most people on death row in Malaysia have been convicted of drugs crimes.

Executions surge 20 percent in 2021 led by China, Iran: Amnesty

By Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights

UN human rights experts today, the 12th of May 2022, called on the Government of Singapore to immediately impose a moratorium on the use of the death penalty, and said its continued use of capital punishment for drug-related crimes ran contrary to international law.

The experts condemned the execution in Singapore of a Singaporean and a Malaysian national, Abdul Kahar bin Othman and Nagaenthran Dharmalingam, in March and April 2022 respectively, for drug-related offences. They urged the Government to halt any plan to execute another Malaysian man, Datchinamurthy Kataiah, convicted for a similar offence.

Mr. Nagaenthran Dharmalingam was executed despite claims that he had an intellectual disability, as well as a deteriorating mental health condition, and was a victim of human trafficking. “Executions of persons with intellectual disabilities and for drug-related offences are a violation of the right to life and the right to be free from torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment and amount to unlawful killings,” said the experts.

Singapore: UN human rights experts urge immediate death penalty moratorium

One in three music festival attendees says fear of getting in trouble with police would deter them from seeking help in a drug-related emergency, as advocacy groups call for harm-reduction policies, such as pill testing, to be revisited with the return of large events.

New research from the National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre, published in 

 on Tuesday, found three-quarters of young people who attended big music festivals in Sydney reported at least one reason they would avoid seeking help for an overdose or medical issue caused by illicit drugs.

For 35 per cent of respondents, and 41 per cent of drug users, fear of police becoming involved was a deterrent. Other barriers included not knowing where to find help (20 per cent of respondents) and concern about family or friends finding out (15 per cent).

Dr Jonathan Brett, a drug and alcohol specialist who co-authored the study, said the results indicated there needed to be better dialogue between police and the public.

“We need to rethink the black-and-white policy of ‘say no to drugs’,” he said.

Australia: Third of festivalgoers say fear of police deters them seeking help with drug emergencies

The International Drug Policy Consortium (IDPC) was pleased to support this letter, drafted by the Faculty of Public Health and signed by around 100 organisations, calling the British government to facilitate the implementation of overdose prevention centres in the United Kingdom. The letter in full, which you can also sign, is available below.

In the United Kingdom, in 2020, there were 4,517 deaths related to illicit drug use; the highest rate of drug related deaths since records began. It is necessary to provide the full range of evidence-based drug treatment and harm reduction interventions to prevent these deaths.

Overdose prevention centres are healthcare facilities where people consume their own drugs under the supervision of trained staff who intervene in the event of an overdose. These sites are provided in at least 13 countries, but not the UK. International evidence demonstrates they reduce drug related deaths, encourage safer injecting practices to prevent infections and increase engagement with wider drug treatment and support services.

In December 2021, the Faculty of Public Health published an open letter calling for pilot overdose prevention centres in the UK. This call was supported by 84 leading organisations, including Royal Medical Colleges, public health bodies, drug service providers, academic and third sector organisations; and numerous individual signatories.

In response, the Government argued that there is no legal framework to run overdose prevention centres in the UK. Although there is no law which specifically bans such services, offences such as drug possession would be committed within them. Under the Misuse of Drugs Regulations 2001, some acts that would otherwise be controlled by the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971 are already exempt from criminalisation, in order to enable services that reduce harms.

Over the past year, the Drug Science Enhanced Harm Reduction Working Group has been researching the feasibility of setting up pilot overdose prevention centres in the UK. This work has demonstrated there is a clear need for the services in areas with high levels of drug related harm, and cross-agency support for their introduction.

We call on the Government to amend the Misuse of Drugs Regulations 2001 to make it easier to establish pilots of overdose prevention centres. This is an easy step that would not require primary legislation. It would help local agencies to build the evidence base and save lives.

United Kingdom: Call to amend Misuse of Drugs Regulations to make it easier to pilot overdose prevention centres

After first floating the idea to legalise recreational cannabis in 2018, the government on Wednesday presented a draft law that will allow adults to grow up to four cannabis plants at home.

Cannabis is the most-used recreational drug in Luxembourg. Around 7.3% of 15 to 18-year-olds in a report said they had consumed cannabis in the last month. More than a third of 15 to 34-year-olds said they had tried cannabis at some point in their life.

Under the government plans, a household with at least one adult will be able to grow four cannabis plants at home from seeds, although they must be hidden from public sight. Consumption at home will also be allowed.

“The legalisation of self-cultivation and private consumption is a first step in the concept of countering the illegal market and illegal trade in cannabis,” the justice ministry said in a presentation.

The pandemic had delayed the project to legalise recreational cannabis, but the government also faced legal challenges. Luxembourg has signed three UN treaties which say cannabis may only be used for medical or research purposes and together form a global drug control framework. This poses difficulties to import the drug.

News

The UK's first regular drug checking service set to launch in Bristol this month

Executions surge 20 percent in 2021 led by China, Iran: Amnesty

Singapore: UN human rights experts urge immediate death penalty moratorium

Australia: Third of festivalgoers say fear of police deters them seeking help with drug emergencies

United Kingdom: Call to amend Misuse of Drugs Regulations to make it easier to pilot overdose prevention centres

Luxembourg: Lawmakers begin work to legalise growing weed