Nearly 90% of Scots estimated to be at risk of an opioid overdose have been given access to the lifesaving medication naloxone, figures have shown.
An estimated 87.5% of those at risk were supplied with a take-home naloxone kit in the last three months of 2025 – an increase of 1.7% on the previous quarter.
Naloxone is a medicine that can rapidly reverse the effects of an opioid overdose.
Statistics released by Public Health Scotland showed 9,552 take-home kits were issued in the latest period.
Of these, 4,668 kits were supplied by drug treatment services, 1,180 by other non-drug treatment services and 1,121 by Scottish Families Affected by Alcohol and Drugs.
Some 957 were supplied through prescriptions dispensed by community pharmacies, 602 by trained peers or mentors, 515 by prisons and 307 by the Scottish Ambulance Service.
While the total number for the third quarter of 2025-26 was down 3% compared to the previous three months, it was up 20% compared to the same time the previous year and has risen dramatically since the early 2010s.
Alcohol and drugs minister Maree Todd said: “I am determined to do even more to tackle the harm caused by drugs.
“That’s why we are providing record levels of funding for drugs and alcohol programmes.
“We have invested more than £4 million in widening access to naloxone, including through our emergency services and community pharmacies and, according to the most recent statistics, an estimated 87.5% of those who are at risk of opioid overdose are being provided with a lifesaving kit.
“We will continue this expansion as part of our new long-term alcohol and drugs strategic plan to reduce deaths and harms.
“Due to the presence of an increasingly unpredictable drug supply of highly dangerous synthetic opioids like nitazenes, which raise the risk of overdose, hospitalisation and death, I would urge anyone who carries naloxone to have extra lifesaving kits with them so repeat doses can be given if required.”