Scotland facing drugs deaths disaster
SCOTLAND is facing a “drugs disaster”, Health Secretary Shona Robison was warned yesterday.
She was giving evidence to Holyrood’s health committee on the SNP Government’s 2018-19 draft budget and faced questions on funding for alcohol and drug partnerships.
The Government have pledged £20million but Labour’s Neil Findlay – the committee’s convener – said the real increase was just £4million when past cuts were factored in.
He said: “The reality is that we have the worst drug deaths rate in Europe.
“We have a drugs disaster on our hands in terms of deaths from drugs. Is this anywhere near enough to start to tackle what is a real public health crisis on the streets, where people are dying?”
Across Scotland, 867 people died of overdosing on illegal drugs in 2016, up 23 per cent on 2015.
Robison said older drug users or those with a longstanding problem were behind the shock statistics.
She highlighted the Government’s new seek and treat programme to get them to engage with services, to which the new resources would be aligned.
But Findlay said: “There is a new generation of young people who are experiencing drugs, particularly cocaine. The streets are awash with it.
“That’s not the older generation that we’ve known about for some time – this is a whole new generation.”