National Forum on Drug Related Deaths in Scotland: Annual Report 2014

SUMMARY

The National Forum on Drug-related Deaths (NFDRD/The Forum) was established by the Scottish Advisory Committee on Drug Misuse Drugrelated Deaths Working Group in 2005 as an independent expert advisory group of professionals and representatives working to reduce drug-related deaths in Scotland. The Forum provides expertise, constructive challenge and evidence based advice with a remit to report to Ministers annually and advises Alcohol and Drug Partnerships (ADPs) and other joint planning groups, as appropriate, on trends and causes of drug-related deaths in Scotland and actions and policy changes. The Forum does this by considering any new research findings from national and international literature and policy issues as expressed elsewhere. Appropriate experts are asked to contribute to these discussions. Very few groups with a national remit have the reputation that the Forum has acquired for delivering on priorities and actually effecting change. The Forum is a multi-agency and multi-disciplinary group and includes individuals with lived experience and family representatives affected by another’s substance misuse.

THIS REPORT’S CONTENT

• The Work of the Forum
• A Word from the Chairs
• Forum 2014 Recommendations
• Forum response to drug death figures in Scotland in 2013 as reported by National Records of Scotland in August 2014
• Key Points from the National Drug-Related Deaths Database Report for 2013, published in April 2015
• Programme Updates
• Scottish Government Response to 2013 Forum Recommendations

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