The Pharmaceutical Journal
Vol 270 No 7242 p430
29 March 2003

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Drug misuse in Scotland (more)
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Extend services for drug misusers, say two reports

Needle and syringe exchange services and the provision of single-use citric acid sachets to drug misusers should be extended, according to two reports examining schemes in Scotland.

Kay Roberts, area pharmacy specialist in drug misuse, Greater Glasgow Primary Care Trust, led a team analysing records collected from pharmacists participating in the city's needle exchange scheme between 1997 and 2002. During that period, the number of pharmacies taking part increased from eight to 15, but still only 7 per cent of the 215 pharmacies in Glasgow. The number of sets of equipment issued rose by 686 per cent to 558,176 in 2001–02 and the returns rate rose from 70 to 86 per cent.

During the review period, visits by drug misusers to pharmacies increased while visits to other places offering needle exchange fell. This may be due to the more convenient location of pharmacies in relation to where drug misusers live, a report on the scheme says.

In conclusion, the report says that the needle exchange scheme should be extended to more pharmacies and ways should be found to encourage women who need the service to make use of it.

A second report looked at the views of 360 injecting drug users in Glasgow and Lanarkshire on the provision of single-use sachets containing 100mg of citric acid.

Overall, the introduction of the sachets was successful and well received by the users, who found 100mg citric acid sufficient for their needs. The report recommends that such sachets should be introduced to needle and syringe exchange schemes across the United Kingdom.

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