Mentions:
1: Rachel Maclean (Con - Redditch) undercurrent which permeates all immigration law”.Among those who escaped deportation that day was heroin - Speech Link
Asked by: Grahame Morris (Labour - Easington)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment he has made with Cabinet colleagues of the effectiveness of Diamorphine Assisted Treatment in tackling drug-related crime.
Answered by Chris Philp - Shadow Leader of the House of Commons
Diamorphine Assisted Treatment (DAT) is an option that remains open to local areas under the existing legal framework, and we support those areas who pursue this approach, where the relevant licences are obtained from the Home Office. DAT is aimed at those who are already engaging with treatment but are not responding to opioid substitution therapy.
Evidence supporting the value of targeted injectable opioid treatment (“IOT”) programmes, including heroin/diamorphine assisted treatment (“DAT”), in both the UK and other countries has been published and informed the UK clinical guidelines for drug misuse and dependence, as well as guidance on commissioning and developing IOT services.
There is mixed evidence for the effectiveness of DAT in tackling drug-related crime compared with other forms of opioid substitution therapy. However, the crime reduction benefits of effective drug treatment, including IOT, is well documented and investing in improved capacity and quality of drug treatment services is an important part of the Government’s approach to reduce drug-related crime as is set out in the Drug Strategy.
Asked by: Grahame Morris (Labour - Easington)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 4 December 2023 to Question 4319 on Diamorphine: Clinics, how many licenses have been obtained from his Department for the provision of Diamorphine Assisted Treatment in each of the last five years.
Answered by Chris Philp - Shadow Leader of the House of Commons
Home Office domestic controlled drug premises licences are issued by the Drugs and Firearms Licensing Unit (DFLU) to organisations for activities at individual premises in Great Britain. Licences are valid for a period of one year from the date of issue.
Organisations wishing to provide Heroin Assisted Treatment (HAT), also referred to as Diamorphine Assisted Treatment, may also provide other treatment programmes involving controlled drugs, and in such cases they would apply for one licence for that premises for all services rather than a specific licence solely for HAT provision. Aggregate data on the number of each type of service expected to be delivered under Home Office licences issued is not routinely collected.
The below data provide estimates based on internal management information which has not been subject to quality assurance or audit, and therefore can only provide an indication of the numbers of licences where a HAT service is provided.
An indication of the number of licences including a HAT service, issued from 6 December 2018, up to and including 5 December 2023, is as follows:
2019-2
2020-1
2021-3
2022-3
2023- 2
Jun. 02 2008
Source Page: Drug misuse and dependence guidelines on clinical management. Dept of Health. 1999.Found: In particular, the UK has comparatively high rates of heroin and crack cocaine misusers.
Mentions:
1: None If we are talking about treatments such as the use of consumption rooms and heroin-assisted treatment - Speech Link
2: None We can learn from the evaluation of the heroin-assisted treatment facility in Glasgow. - Speech Link
3: None The pressures of working in a heroin-assisted treatment facility created a high turnover of national - Speech Link
4: Sweeney, Paul (Lab - Glasgow) There will be co-location with the heroin-assisted treatment service. - Speech Link
5: None There are changes happening in Afghanistan that might well interrupt the heroin market for Scotland. - Speech Link
Mentions:
1: None not have an inhalation component, but we know that there are a lot of people smoking crack cocaine or heroin - Speech Link
2: None On the Saturday, they decided to use street heroin again, because they could not access what they needed - Speech Link
3: McKelvie, Christina (SNP - Hamilton, Larkhall and Stonehouse) The Home Office told us that, in maybe six to nine months, heroin will run out. - Speech Link
May. 17 2011
Source Page: Smoking, drinking and drug use among young people in England in 2009. Edited by Elizabeth Fuller and Marie Sanchez. 205 p.Found: get drugs, by age All pupils 11 years12 years13 years14 years15 years Illegal drugs Cocaine/crack Heroin
Oct. 27 2008
Source Page: Drug misuse and dependence: UK guidelines on clinical management. 129 p.Found: In particular, the UK has comparatively high rates of heroin and crack cocaine misusers.
Written Evidence Nov. 30 2023
Committee: Public Accounts CommitteeFound: overdose clusters in the Dublin region are as a result of nitazenes mixed in heroin.31 A total of
Asked by: Cole-Hamilton, Alex (Scottish Liberal Democrats - Edinburgh Western)
Question
To ask the Scottish Government what proportion of drugs deaths in the Lothian region in each year since 2018 have been linked to fentanyl or other synthetic opioids such as Captagon.
Answered by Whitham, Elena - Minister for Drugs and Alcohol Policy
The Scottish Government does not hold this information. The annual National Records of Scotland publication on drug-misuse deaths does include data on the geographic split of drug deaths by substance, but the categories only include ‘any opioid’, ‘heroin/morphine’, ‘OST’, and a few medicinal opioids (such as codeine). There is not any information provided specifically on fentanyl, or any other synthetic opioids, broken down by geographical area.
Across Scotland the number of deaths where fentanyl was implicated since 2018 are as follows:
2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | |
Number of deaths where fentanyl implicated | 12 | 25 | 7 | 7 | 6 |
The separate Public Health Scotland operated RADAR system does publish some data on synthetic opioid detection in post-mortem forensic toxicology testing which is available at the following link, but this is not broken down by geographical area - https://publichealthscotland.scot/publications/rapid-action-drug-alerts-and-response-radar-quarterly-report/rapid-action-drug-alerts-and-response-radar-quarterly-report-october-2023/#section-6-2
There is no mention in the NRS statistics of any deaths from the amphetamine stimulant Captagon, or under its chemical name fenethylline.