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Spanning almost 30 years, Italy’s experience with take-home-naloxone (THN) provides an interesting case study on the international scene because of its specific history, regulation and trends in overdose (OD) rates. Accordingly, this study aims to contribute to the evidence base for THN and its delivery in a different setting.

The study focuses on service providers’ perceptions of the benefits, risks and barriers associated with THN provision. Data was collected using a mixed-methods approach as follows: an online structured questionnaire (no. of respondents = 63) and two focus groups (no. of total participants = 18).

Findings show that service providers believe the benefits of THN far outweigh the risks and accrue to services, as well as users. The study also suggests that the barriers in Italy are mostly ideological and political, and illustrates how resistance to administering THN can re-emerge when ODs are no longer a social emergency. Furthermore, the study found that health and social workers have different attitudes which are also reflected at the level of public and private services, thereby shaping slightly different models of THN supply.

The study suggests that barriers associated to THN are more ideological and political rather than concrete, which explains why, even where it seems long established, can easily re-emerge once ODs are no longer a social emergency.

Examining how ideas about violence and agency relate to gender, this chapter considers women's participation in armed struggle during the 1960s–1980s. Drawing on a small selection of case studies, it specifically explores women's involvement with left-wing urban guerrilla groups in Italy, West Germany and the United States. I examine different examples of political violence connected to ‘women's issues’, discuss the experiences and reflections of women involved and look at how such activities were received by the broader women's liberation movement. With a foundation thus established, the chapter interrogates the implications of the examples covered in relation to the social organisation of gender, touches on their significance to feminism and concludes with a consideration of the subversive and potentially liberatory possibilities associated with women's political violence.