Opioid-related deaths are particularly common after drug abusers have been abstinent, such as following their release from prison or discharge from hospital. However, new data suggests Scotland’s National Naloxone Programme reduces opioid-related deaths in the four weeks following release from prison by more than a third.

People in the programme at risk of opioid overdose receive 10-15 minutes training by pharmacists, staff nurses, voluntary-sector workers or peer trainers, typically in pharmacies and community substance misuse services. The drug user is then prescribed naloxone, which they use for suspected overdose.

In 2006-2010, 9.8 per cent of the 1,970 opioid-related deaths were in people who had been released from prison within the previous four weeks. Scotland introduced the naloxone programme in January 2011.

In 2011-2013, 6.3 per cent of the 1,212 opioid-related deaths occurred in the four weeks after release, a 36 per cent reduction. Opioid-related deaths in the four weeks after prison release or hospital discharge fell by 22 per cent from 19.0 per cent to 14.9 per cent.

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