Provision of Naloxone to Prisoners on Release in Scotland

"Naloxone is issued to prisoners only on release. Prison statistics show that in 2011/12 there were 19,792 liberations from Scottish prisons (Scottish Government, 2012 7). Combined with results from the 2010/11 Addiction Prevalence Testing in Scottish prisons, where opioids were detected in 36% of prisoners tested on reception (ISD Scotland, 2012⁸), this produces an estimate of 7,125 liberations in 2011/12 of prisoners using opioids on admission to custody. When compared with the 715 ‘take home’ naloxone kits issued by prisons in Scotland in 2011/12 as part of the National Naloxone Programme, this gives an estimate of approximately 100 kits issued per 1,000 such liberations, in 2011/12.
"2.2 Whom kits were issued to
"Whilst the ‘take home’ naloxone issued in the community may be issued to either: the person at risk of opioid overdose, to family/friends or to a service worker, all 715 kits issued by prisons in Scotland in 2011/12 were issued to ‘a person at risk’."