Drugs

Question 1

What role do medical professionals play in addressing the ongoing opioid crisis?

Question 2

What is Thistle?

Answer 2

• The UK’s first legal drug consumption room.
• It will not have the capacity to test the drugs being taken, only to provide the
• The service will provide medical consultation rooms, a recovery and observation room and a kitchen and lounge area.
• Users will also have access to a clothing bank and showers.
• The main aim is to prevent visible public injections and drug-related litter.
• It is a harm-reduction intervention, not treatment.

Question 3

What is Naloxone?

Answer 3

• An opiod agonist.
• Reverses overdose.

Question 4

What was the numbers of fatal overdoses in 2020 (in Scotland)?

Answer 4

• The number of fatal overdoses steadily rose throughout the 2010s until a record high of 1,339 in 2020.

Question 5

What are the contemporary drug issues occuring in the UK?

Answer 5

• Market movement moving towards synthetic drugs.
• Ketamine and fentanyl increased popularity.
• Taliban crack down on opium poppy cultivation in Afghanistan.

Question 6

What support can the UK government offer?

Answer 6

• ## Holistic care.

Question 7

What are nitazenes?

Answer 7

• Synthetic opiod, can be 300x stronger than heroin.
• Heroin laced with nitazenes has killed hundreds in the UK already.
• They are being found more and more in urine tests.

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/deaths-linked-to-potent-synthetic-opioids/deaths-linked-to-potent-synthetic-opioids

Question 8

How many people died from drug overdoses in the US in 2023?

Answer 8

> 110,000

Question 9

What are the mental health aspects of drug use?

Answer 9

• People who have experienced trauma or abuse often use drug use to fill an emotional void.
• We need to address these causes and prevent people being drawn into drugs as a coping mechanism.

Question 10

How has Taliban rule in Afghanistan affected drug use in the UK?

Answer 10

• Crack down on opium poppy cultivation.
• This pushed up drug prices and encouraged the production and sale of synthetic alternatives, which are associated with far higher mortality rates.

Question 11

What is Xylazine?

Answer 11

• A strong veterinary sedative, often known as tranq.
• Used to cut heroin, fentanyl and other drugs. Found in cannabis vapes too.
• Causing rotting skin lesions.

Question 12

What proportion of young people have used Ketamine?

Answer 12

• 1/20 young people.

Question 13

Why has the popularity of ketamine increased so much recently?

Answer 13

• It is cheap, at £10 or less per gram.
• The legitimate demand for it can be exploited.
• It can be made in the UK.

Question 14

What risks does ketamine carry?

Answer 14

• K-holes: respiratory depression, dissociation, psychosis.
• Ketamine baldder syndrome: can lead to incontinence and severe urinary tract damage.
• Cognitive impairments, memory issues, and profound psychological disturbances such as depression and anxiety.

Question 15

What is the government’s 10 year strategy for tackling drugs?

Answer 15

• Break drug supply chains
• Deliver a world-class treatment and recovery system
• Achieve a generational shift in demand for drugs