Healthcare Improvement Scotland are pleased to invite you to an online webinar – Polydrug Use and Alcohol
Background and focus:
Prevalence in Scotland of polydrug use, the use of more than 1 drug type at the same time, is high.
A survey commissioned by PHS found only one in ten individuals with experience of using drugs, reported problems with only one type of drug. (PHS, 2024) and in 81% of all drug misuse deaths in 2023, more than one drug including alcohol was implicated in the death. (Drug misuse deaths, NRS 2023).
Recent evaluation of the National Mission on Drug Deaths (PHS, 2024) identified insufficient focus on non-opioid drug use and polydrug use as a missed opportunity in the Mission to date, “polydrug use still does not hold the centrality of place it needs in current drugs policy or service improvement frameworks”. Indicators from Scotland’s drugs early warning system RADAR (Rapid Action Drug Alerts and Response) demonstrate that polysubstance use remains the main driver of harms (National benchmarking, PHS, 2024).
This webinar will explore the changing landscape of drug use in Scotland and rise of poly drug use, including benzodiazepines, stimulants, synthetics and alcohol and the implications these have for addiction services in Scotland. We will then focus on alcohol within poly drug use and by focusing on the emerging issues we aim to promote opportunities to work collaboratively to identify how the whole system can respond to changing drug trends, to improve patient care and foster successful outcomes in addiction recovery.
Date and time: 11:00-12:30 on Wednesday 26th March
Registration: This session is open to all professionals and those with an interest in the field and may include representatives from:
- Academia
- Health and social care
- Housing sector
- Justice
- People with lived/living experience
- Community pharmacy
