30 April, 2024

RADAR Quarterly report - April 2024

The Drugs Team at Public Health Scotland (PHS) has compiled the latest RADAR quarterly report of drug-related indicators. The objective of this report is to monitor drug-related harms, service usage and toxicology data, in order to provide an early warning of emerging drug trends and identify actions to reduce and prevent drug harms and deaths.

Main points from the report

Drug-related harms remained high in Scotland.
Patterns of polysubstance use remain the key driver of harms. The combinations most associated involve benzodiazepines (most commonly diazepam and bromazolam), cocaine and opioids.
Cocaine played an increasing role in harms.
The following changes were observed compared to the previous reporting period (reported in quarterly report 6 – January 2024

For harm indicators:

- suspected drug deaths: 11% increase
- naloxone administration incidents: 14% decrease
- emergency department attendances: 12% decrease
- drug-related hospital admissions: 24% decrease

For service indicators:

- drug treatment referrals: 10% decrease
- injecting equipment provision: transactions - stable, number of needles and syringes - 6% decrease

Please visit the Public Health Scotland website to read the full report

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