John Strang: global leader in tackling addiction

Abstract

In an interview for BBC Newsnight in 1997, John Strang, the then newly appointed Director of the National Addiction Centre at King's College London, UK, first spoke publicly about “take-home naloxone” for opiate users. This was a major step in reducing deaths from heroin overdose, and Strang continued to fight for the widespread uptake of naloxone for 20 years, alongside advancing the research agenda in addiction medicine. Reflecting today, Strang says “It's taken two decades for this life-saving approach (take-home naloxone) to make a real global impact. It's difficult to understand how slow this process has been without stigma and discrimination being part of the explanation.”