Over the years we witness the deaths of people, especially young people when it comes to taking drugs. The problem was the toxic substances found it them, or lack of knowledge.
The report highlights rising drug deaths in the UK since 2010 as it recommends the introduction of drug safety testing and an independent drug information campaign.
According the article published on Resident Advisor, drug use among UK clubbers has called for urgent action to install harm-reduction measures as deaths linked to cocaine and ecstasy have risen to record levels.
Night Lives: Reducing Drug-Related Harm in the Night Time Economy—a report by The Loop, Volteface, Durham University and The All Party Parliamentary Group for Drug Policy Reform—calls for publicly available drug safety testing services for nightlife districts across the UK. It also recommends an information campaign centred on drug harm reduction. Employees at licensed premises should be given training on responding effectively to drug use, the report adds, and venues should adopt drug policy already installed at UK festivals—Prevent, Pursue, Protect, or the 3Ps.
As the report explains: “The policy directs stakeholder priorities towards preventing drugs from getting on to the festival site, pursuing those suspected of supplying drugs on site and also protecting the public from drug-related harm.”
Ecstasy-related deaths in Europe, especially in England and Wales have increased sixfold since 2010, the report says, with 63 fatalities recorded in 2016. In the same period, the increase in Scotland was from one to 28. Deaths linked to cocaine rose threefold in England and Wales, from 112 to 371, from 2011 through 2016, and quadrupled in Scotland, from 36 to 123, in the same five-year span. Overall prevalence rates among UK adults for cocaine and ecstasy use have remained largely consistent since 2010. The report points to several factors—increased substance purity, the changing nature of drugs supply and consumption, and inadequate access to information about harm reduction—that have all helped increase the risk to clubbers.
Read the full story here.