Interview with Professor Catriona Matheson, Chair of the Drug Deaths Taskforce for Scotland
- Area of Work: The ALLIANCE
- Type: News Item
- Published: 31st March 2021
ALLIANCE Live interview discusses stigma, COVID-19, mental health and elements of the taskforce's recent work.
In 2019 1,264 people lost their lives to drug related deaths in Scotland. That is a 6% increase on the previous year, 3 times that of the rate of the UK as a whole and the highest drug-related deaths rate in Europe. In this edition of ALLIANCE Live Professor Catriona Matheson, Chair of Scotland’s Drug Deaths Taskforce, leads us through some of the reasons behind Scotland’s drug-related deaths rate.
We also discuss how stigma impacts on people who use drugs, emerging plans for drug checking services in Scotland and Professor Matheson’s thoughts on decriminalisation. We touch on how COVID-19 has affected people receiving treatment for substance use and examine women and drug use and the intersection between drug use and mental health.
Professor Matheson also outlines plans for a ‘living experience’ panel to be set up in Scotland. This will see the most marginalised of people who use drugs given a platform on a national level to ensure their voices are heard in policy and across practice.
This ALLIANCE Live edition is a must listen if you are interested in drug policy, how plans aim to impact on the health of people who use drugs, and work being done in Scotland to create change.
Listen here (this link will take you away from our website).
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