Andrew McAuley
arjmcauley.bsky.social
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…
www.sciencedirect.com
October 31, 2025 at 1:54 PM
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
October 31, 2025 at 1:50 PM
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.
www.sundaypost.com
September 29, 2025 at 3:38 PM
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
August 29, 2025 at 11:30 AM
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) …
www.sciencedirect.com
July 7, 2025 at 4:45 PM
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.
www.dailyrecord.co.uk
June 11, 2025 at 8:34 AM
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
May 13, 2025 at 3:28 PM
Reposted by Andrew McAuley
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.
April 30, 2025 at 2:03 AM
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
April 1, 2025 at 1:27 PM
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.
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...
Tributes paid to Christina McKelvie after MSP dies aged 57
Tributes paid to Christina McKelvie after MSP dies aged 57
www.holyrood.com
March 27, 2025 at 10:33 AM
Latest opioid dependence prevalence estimates for Scotland published today.
publichealthscotland.scot/media/32049/...
publichealthscotland.scot
March 18, 2025 at 4:14 PM
Reposted by Andrew McAuley
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
www.theguardian.com
March 18, 2025 at 7:10 AM
Reposted by Andrew McAuley
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
March 5, 2025 at 11:35 AM
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!
February 17, 2025 at 5:11 PM
Reposted by Andrew McAuley
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
www.gov.uk
February 13, 2025 at 1:23 PM
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
February 10, 2025 at 2:41 PM
Reposted by Andrew McAuley
🚨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.
February 4, 2025 at 1:26 AM
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...
February 3, 2025 at 4:14 PM
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.
www.bbc.co.uk
January 30, 2025 at 11:22 AM
Reposted by Andrew McAuley
📣 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⬇️
January 21, 2025 at 2:11 PM
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.
www.glasgowtimes.co.uk
January 21, 2025 at 3:17 PM