Andrew McAuley

The Top 10 Public Health Achievements of the 21st Century We take a look back at the top public health achievements that have improved lives across the globe over the past 25 years.

Find out more and read the full list here 👇

www.rsph.org.uk/insights/the...

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…

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...

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...

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/...

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.

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-....

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 ...

Interesting read... www.thelancet.com/journals/lan...

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.

Professor Andrew McAuley (@arjmcauley.bsky.social ) discusses Scotland's drug deaths ⬇️

@gcureach.bsky.social

www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/scottis...

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...

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....

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) …

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...

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.

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...

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 ...

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...

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.

‘Deaths of despair’: A term that needs to be retired Click on the article title to read more.

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/...

😅

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.

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 ...

Proud to be have been awarded Fellowship status by @fphuk.bsky.social www.gcu.ac.uk/aboutgcu/uni...

Latest opioid dependence prevalence estimates for Scotland published today.
publichealthscotland.scot/media/32049/...

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

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...

The recording of our webinar 'Polysubstance Use and Cocaine: Engaging and Supporting People' is now available to watch on our YouTube💻

You can also access the presentation slides in the video description.

Thanks again to our speakers & everyone who attended on Wednesday.

Watch now buff.ly/GTcaMLC

I only found out he had passed yesterday when I found Matt's great thread. I had the same experience when I first met Nick about 15 years ago - he was equally kind and generous to me and always had time for a chat. Rest in peace.

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!

Ha! It was my pleasure. Definitely out my comfort zone training the training experts, but you all were great fun and your enthusiasm made for a great session.

Project ADDER: Impact evaluation

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

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. 

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...

list of banned keywords

🚨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...

we used to exclude heroin from this as it was so dominant and you couldn't see other drugs - this is the first year we've added it back in

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.

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...

NESI surveys have been highlighting this shift for quite some time...

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...

📣 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⬇️