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Wednesday 21 March 2012

Take part in our Naloxone interview - with Scots!

by David Hewson

Interview naloxone professionals from Scotland! UPDATE: the details for this interview have now been finalized!!

Let us know your thoughts! 


Ok CSSDPers, we've got an interesting opportunity here!

As most of you already know, the UN Commission on Narcotic Drugs passed a resolution last week to promote naloxone, an antidote for opiate overdoses. This is good news.

Amid the tweeting around this, I connected with two people from Scotland who work with naloxone: Kirsten, a registered nurse working in addictions, and Stephen, the national coordinator and lead trainer for Scotland's Naloxone Programme. I asked if they'd like to be interviewed for a post on our blog...and got a great response!!


If that wasn't enough, a British harm reduction group called Injecting Advice saw what we were tweeting about, and now they want to reprint the interview on their website! Not bad.

So the stage is set...and this is where you guys come in.


We want your help with this - and here's why:

1. We need to ask some good questions! For those of you with no background in harm reduction (like myself) - what do you want to know about naloxone? For those of you with more experience - what do you want to ask the pros now that we've got their attention?

2. If Injecting Advice is interested in our interview, then lots of other people must be too. Who else should we be telling about this? Some of our friends from the conference come to mind, like CAANS in Red Deer and Streetworks in Edmonton. Who else can you think of who might want to submit questions, post the interview on their blog, or otherwise get involved?

3. Last, but not certainly not least...just because. That's why you should get involved. Interviewing interesting people, building connections and promoting events for a worthy cause are all activism skills we want you to learn - so seize this opportunity to do so!

So here's what happens next.

In the comments below, tell us:

- what questions should we ask our interviewees? what do you really want to know about harm reduction, naloxone, or what's happening with drug policy in the land of haggis? ;)
- who should we tell about this? where and how can we promote this cool opportunity?
- how do you want to be involved? do you want to take part in the interview directly (you're welcome to!!)? should we try to livestream the event? do you want to live-tweet your thoughts/reactions for our followers while the interview is happening?

Let us know what you think, and we can all go on from there. Looking forward to hearing from all of you!

2 comments:

flubio123 said...

There must be other harm reduction centers who have questions as well. What about rural users? In Canada there may be users who cannot gain access to emergency health services. Has Scotland addressed this with a single dose take-home remedy? Is there a possibility for users to progress from overdose directly into withdrawal and what risks does that carry (I realize that saving the patient's life is of the utmost concern - just curious)? Do users increase their personal limits knowing they have a failsafe? Reduce chances of entering rehab? I know I'm sounding a bit negative but I'm just brainstorming out loud.

Karl said...

Has implementing a naloxone program been controversial in Scotland? Where does it fit in with respect to other harm reduction services? What other harm reduction services are offered in Scotland? Are harm reduction principles and programs accepted by the public or opposed?

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