Medical Advice & Alerts
Alerts8 June 2010 Benzodiazepines Benzodiazepines bought over the internet, are being sold in the East Riding with "arabic" writing and the manufacturer's name Roche printed on the packets. We have also been informed that Vicodin and Oxycontin tablets are widely available at the moment, these have caused numerous deaths in the USA. The patient information leaflet for OxyContin warns against chewing or breaking the tablets as this speeds up absorbtion of the drug and can be fatal. ********************************************* 8 June 2010 Alprazolam Some quantities of Alprazolam, a short acting Benzodiazepine, not manufactured by drug companies and probably from Thailand, may be in circulation. Information indicates that these tablets can be 20 times the normal strength. Users taking them developed coma like, extreme reactions. ********************************************* 26 February 2010 Heroin Alert Heroin is in circulation that when cooked up shows red and blue bits, like glitter. It is not visible before cooking up. Clients have reported severe headaches following use. Please contact CDP on 01482 225868, or drop in to
61 Spring Bank, if you come across this type of heroin, so we can try and protect others. ********************************************* To see Drug Alerts that are more than three months old, please click on the link below: |
Medical Advice - Overdose
Need immediate help for someone who has taken an overdose?
Worried that someone you know may have taken an overdose?
Then click here to go to our Overdose Action page now
Want to know what to do when someone has overdosed?
Want to know how to reduce your own risk of overdosing?
The National Treatment Agency (NTA) has excellent clear information on what you need to know. By clicking this link, you will go directly to the NTA web site and can download leaflets in Adobe PDF format.
Click on Publications, in the top line, then select “Drug-related deaths” from the drop down menu. Go down the page to the headings “Staying Alive leaflets” and Leaflets.
“Overdose leaflet – Protect and survive” and “Overdose – everything you need to know” gives immediate emergency action and things you should not do, as well as preventative information.
Medical Advice - Drugs
To get information about specific drugs (what they are, their effects on you, the law, etc.), please go to our Links page for Information Sites for Drugs and Alcohol. You may find DrugScope (click on Resources and select an item from the list) and Talk to Frank (use its A to Z of Drugs) particularly helpful.
Medical Advice - Injecting
If you inject, please read the following carefully to help you reduce the risk of harm to yourself, including infection
- There is no way to tell if your heroin is likely to cause infection.
- Smoke heroin instead of injecting as this reduces the risk of infection.
- If you must inject, do not inject into muscle or under the skin: make sure you hit the vein - your blood is better at killing bacteria than your muscle.
- Don't share needles, syringes, cookers/spoons or other 'works' with other drug users.
- Use as little citric acid as possible to dissolve the heroin. A lot of citric acid can damage the muscle or the flesh under the skin, and this damage gives bacteria a better chance to grow.
- If you inject more than one type of drug, inject each at a separate place on your body and with clean works for each injection. This is important because certain drugs (e.g. cocaine) could give bacteria in heroin a better chance to grow.
- If you get swelling, redness, or pain where you have injected yourself, or pus collects under the skin, you should get a doctor to check it out immediately, especially if the infection seems different to others you may have had in the past.
Medical Advice - Needle Exchange
In Hull there are a number of places that you can exchange needles, without appointments or charge. The Point is the most central.
The Point, 17 Albion Street, HU1 3TG
Telephone 01482 221551
Opening Times
Monday to Friday 10:00am to 1:00pm and 1:30pm to 4:00pm
Open until 7:00pm on Wednesday
There are also a number of Pharmacy Needle Exchanges:
Alliance Pharmacy, 234 Ellerburn Avenue, HU6 9RR
Telephone 01482 853241
Opening Times
Monday to Friday 09:00am to 6:00pm
Saturday 09:00am to 5:00pm
Lloyds Pharmacy, 253 Anlaby Road, HU3 2SE
Telephone 01482 211121
Opening Times
Monday to Saturday 09:00am to 10:00pm
Sunday 10:00am to 8:00pm
Lloyds Pharmacy, 48-49 Goodhart Road, Northpoint Shopping Centre
HU7 4EE
Telephone 01482 833670
Opening Times
Monday to Friday 09:00am to 5:30pm
Saturday 09:00am to 5:00pm
Medical Advice - Blood Borne Viruses
Anyone sharing needles or other works is at risk from blood borne viruses, such as Hepatitis, which can kill. You can get free blood tests from
The Point at 17 Albion Street, Hull HU1 3TGl. Just drop in or call ( 01482) 221551 to check opening times.
The Sexual Health Partnership at Conifer House, 32-36 Prospect Street, Hull HU2 8PX. Just drop in or call ( 01482) 336336 to check opening times and the availability of blood testing at other locations in Hull and the East Riding.
Medical Advice - General
Again, The National Treatment Agency (NTA) has excellent clear information on what you need to know. By clicking this link, you will go directly to the NTA web site and can download leaflets in Adobe PDF format.
Click on Publications, in the top line, then select “Drug-related deaths” from the drop down menu. Go down the page to the headings “Staying Alive leaflets” and Leaflets.
“Overdose leaflet – After a break” and “Injecting and infections – what you need to know” give a very useful preventative information.
The Exchange Supplies web site has some good handbooks on topics that can help you keep healthy, such as Safer Injecting, Cleaning Used Works and Treatment Choices (go to the Exchange Supplies site, click on Drug Information, then select Handbooks). The books can be purchased from Exchange Supplies or viewed for free on the site.
A different part of the same web site, Exchange Supplies also sells a range of products to make injecting safer (go to the Exchange Supplies site, click on Needle Exchange Supplies, then select the area that you need).
