Andrew McAuley
@arjmcauley.bsky.social
Professor at Glasgow Caledonian University and Consultant at Public Health Scotland in the drugs/BBV field. Sport and Music fan. Views my own.
Our latest paper in Lancet Regional Health Europe looks at estimating incidence of primary infection and reinfection of HCV among PWID in Scotland and indicates WHO elimination targets are within reach for this high risk population: www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
Estimating incidence rates of primary infection and reinfection with hepatitis C virus among people who inject drugs in Scotland: a model-based analysis of repeated cross-sectional survey data
Reducing the incidence of hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection is a World Health Organization (WHO) elimination goal, but approaches to estimate this fro…
sciencedirect.com
Timely new paper on Behavioural Effects and Naloxone Effectiveness With New Synthetic Opioids led by @drsuzinielsen.bsky.social and colleagues: onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
Behavioural Effects and Naloxone Effectiveness With New Synthetic Opioids
Introduction The global drug market has seen an emergence of potent synthetic opioids, including benzimidazole-derived substances known as nitazenes. These compounds have been implicated in fatal an...
onlinelibrary.wiley.com
It's amazing to see articles like this still being written after so many years of our drug death crisis in Scotland. www.sundaypost.com/fp/scotland-....
Experts say harm reduction drugs strategy in Scotland is all wrong
Our TRANSFORM SCOTLAND series starts with drugs, an area in which the country has recorded Europe's worst death rate for seven years running.
sundaypost.com
Interesting read... www.thelancet.com/journals/lan...
Why have overdose deaths decreased? Widespread fentanyl saturation and decreased drug use among key drivers
While overdose deaths remain high in the United States (U.S.), national data show a 25.0% decline in overdose deaths from the year ending in March 2025 compared to the previous year. Reductions since ...
thelancet.com
Professor Andrew McAuley (@arjmcauley.bsky.social ) discusses Scotland's drug deaths ⬇️ @gcureach.bsky.social www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/scottis...
Scotland 'still UK's drug deaths capital' despite miscount in England and Wales
Speaking to the Sunday Mail, Professor Andrew McAuley of Glasgow Caledonian University said the UK-wide picture hadn’t changed.
dailyrecord.co.uk
Really important study highlighting the limitations of nitazene testing strips as a harm reduction tool - very topical for Scotland at the moment. harmreductionjournal.biomedcentral.com/articles/10....
Evaluation of nitazene immunoassay test strips for rapid in-situ detection of nitazene and nitazene analogs in illicit drug samples - Harm Reduction Journal
Background The detection of nitazene compounds in the United Kingdom has raised concerns among healthcare professionals, public health authorities, and law enforcement due to the increased risk of fat...
harmreductionjournal.biomedcentral.com
Our latest [open access] paper evaluated what happened to drug-related mortality risk among people with opioid dependence in Scotland during the Covid-19 pandemic. In short, they stabilised (at a very high level), and OAT remained highly protective. www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
Risk of drug-related mortality among people receiving opioid-agonist treatment during the COVID-19 pandemic in Scotland
The COVID-19 pandemic led to changes in delivery of opioid-agonist treatment (OAT) and risk of drug-related harm in Scotland. This study aimed to (i) …
sciencedirect.com
In a sea of misleading articles and headlines today it falls to the Daily Record to provide some much needed perspective: www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/scottis...
Scotland’s safe consumption room is just the start of the fight
Record View says the opening of one safe consumption room in one city was never going to solve in 12 weeks what remains a nationwide public health emergency.
dailyrecord.co.uk
Interesting article on the evolving issue of achieving optimal naloxone dosing. I also learned what the 'goldilocks principle' is - every day is a school day! onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1...
Naloxone dosing in the era of synthetic opioids: Applying the Goldilocks principle
The opioid overdose epidemic remains a critical public health crisis. In recent years, synthetic opioids like fentanyl and nitazenes, have driven a sharp rise in deaths. Naloxone, an opioid receptor ...
onlinelibrary.wiley.com
BTW. If you’re a scientist and are feeling hollowed out, depressed, fried, frustrated, confused, and simply exhausted by everything, I understand you. You are perfectly sane and you are not alone.
This is a useful and thought provoking piece on so-called 'deaths of despair' by Shane Darke and colleagues onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
‘Deaths of despair’: A term that needs to be retired
Click on the article title to read more.
onlinelibrary.wiley.com
Sad to hear of this. We had a lot of positive engagement with Christina last year in our work on stimulant use and building the case for provision of inhalation devices. Condolences to her family.
Kirsteen Paterson@kirsteenpaterson.bsky.social · last yr.She was "fiesty and determined", "a force of nature", "the best of us" - Tributes paid to Christina McKelvie after MSP dies aged 57 www.holyrood.com/news/view,tr...
Proud to be have been awarded Fellowship status by @fphuk.bsky.social www.gcu.ac.uk/aboutgcu/uni...
Professor awarded Faculty of Public Health Fellowship through Distinction
Glasgow Caledonian University Professor in Public Health Andrew McAuley has been elected as a Fellow of the Faculty of Public Health through Distinction in recognition of his outstanding contribution ...
gcu.ac.uk
Latest opioid dependence prevalence estimates for Scotland published today. publichealthscotland.scot/media/32049/...
publichealthscotland.scot
Grateful to the staff and volunteers at Glasgow’s Thistle who told Today in Focus about their first few weeks in operation Inside the UK’s first drug consumption room – podcast www.theguardian.com/news/audio/2...
Inside the UK’s first drug consumption room – podcast
Libby Brooks reports from a new Glasgow clinic that offers somewhere for people to use drugs in a safer, hygienic environment
theguardian.com
One of the more bizarre takes since the Glasgow Safer Consumption Facility opened is the number of outsiders pitching up and claiming the drug-related litter in Morrisons car park has accumulated since the facility opened - it's been accumulating for years and justifies the location of the service!
The long-awaited evaluation of Project ADDER is now out, and makes fascinating reading for all with a concern for illicit drug problems in England and Wales. A thread: 1/? ttps://www.gov.uk/government/publications/project-adder-impact-evaluation/project-adder-impact-evaluation#key-findings
Project ADDER: Impact evaluation
gov.uk
Looking forward to giving evidence this week (Wed 0930) at UK Parliament Scottish Affairs Committee Inquiry into Glasgow's Safer Drug Consumption Facility. In good company with @catrionamath.bsky.social @gwshorter.bsky.social and @vkatikireddi.bsky.social committees.parliament.uk/committee/13...
Committee examines the case for Glasgow’s pilot Safer Drug Consumption Facility - Committees - UK Parliament
The Scottish Affairs Commitee will begin its inquiry into Glasgow’s pilot Safer Drug Consumption Facility (SDCF) by hearing from public health and substance abuse specialists.
committees.parliament.uk
🚨BREAKING. From a program officer at the National Science Foundation, a list of keywords that can cause a grant to be pulled. I will be sharing screenshots of these keywords along with a decision tree. Please share widely. This is a crisis for academic freedom & science.
Surprised to see the Scottish Affairs Committee written evidence portal closing so early on deadline day - hopefully nobody been caught out! committees.parliament.uk/call-for-evi...
A reminder that the Thistle service was originally proposed on the back of an HIV outbreak among people who inject drugs in Glasgow in 2015 (!), and the strongest predictor of infection was Cocaine injecting. We still have limited treatment options for this group. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Cocaine is most used drug in Glasgow consumption room
New figures also show that the vast majority of people who have used The Thistle are men.
bbc.co.uk
Want to know how Scotland is faring in its progress toward achieving HCV Elimination? Our latest annual report is out now: www.publichealthscotland.scot/publications...
Surveillance of hepatitis C in Scotland – Progress on elimination of hepatitis C as a major public health concern: 2024 update - Surveillance of hepatitis C in Scotland - Publications - Public Health Scotland
This report presents the latest surveillance data (where available) up to the end of 2024. It captures key progress made in tackling HCV prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. It also includes the impact thereafter on HCV prevention, diagnosis and treatment services.
publichealthscotland.scot
📣 Abstract submission for our 2025 Annual Conference is now open! 📥 Email mcalnan@ed.ac.uk with your submissions by 7th March 2025 Abstract guidelines: https://buff.ly/4gf7c5G Register for conference: https://buff.ly/41HrxN2 Details below⬇️
Encouraging start for Glasgow's new Safer Drug Consumption Facility with over 130 uses in its first week: www.glasgowtimes.co.uk/news/2487264...
Number of times Glasgow's drugs consumption room used in first week
Staff at the new safer drug consumption facility in Glasgow have been praised following an encouraging first week.
glasgowtimes.co.uk
🚨 New paper: ‘The implementation of safer drug consumption facilities in Scotland: a mixed methods needs assessment and feasibility study for the city of Edinburgh’ harmreductionjournal.biomedcentral.com/articles/10....
The implementation of safer drug consumption facilities in Scotland: a mixed methods needs assessment and feasibility study for the city of Edinburgh - Harm Reduction Journal
Background Scotland currently has amongst the highest rates of drug-related deaths in Europe, leading to increased advocacy for safer drug consumption facilities (SDCFs) to be piloted in the country. ...
harmreductionjournal.biomedcentral.com
Media debate over the last week on the launch of Glasgow's drug consumption facility has been thoroughly depressing. Advocates & opponents consistently missing the main aim of the service (to reduce harm related to public injecting in the immediate area) and being dragged into a drug death debate.
Wishing all the service users and staff every success when the UK's first sanctioned safer drug consumption facility ('The Thistle') finally opens tomorrow in Glasgow. Privileged to be part of the team evaluating it.
This piece features footage of some of the public drug use sites we have been surveying in Glasgow City over the past 6 months as part of our baseline data collection for the Thistle evaluation. There are certainly no shortage of these sites within the vicinity of where the service is located.
Channel 4 News@channel4news.bsky.social · 2y agoUK’s first drug consumption room set to open in Glasgow www.channel4.com/news/uks-fir...
Very fortunate to get a sneak peek of the Glasgow Safer Drug Consumption Facility ('The Thistle') today ahead of opening on Monday. Really interesting layout shaped by people with LLE. On a personal note, it was nice to see how much our evaluation of the HAT service next door influenced the design.