The Courier & Advertiser (Angus and Dundee)
Campaigner’s anger over lack of detox and rehab centres
Dundee loses more of our citizens to drug overdoses than anywhere else in the rest of Europe.
I do not start with this fact to be negative, to talk anything down or to decry any of the work being done to support people. I raise this fact because we desperately need to find out why Dundee’s death rate is worse than anywhere else and come up with a bold plan to turn this around.
It’s too easy to write this off as down to socio-economic factors – unemployment, deprivation. These are true and undoubtedly contribute, but they do not explain why more Dundonians are dying of drug overdoses than in Glasgow where there are similar socio-economic challenges.
I have been wading through the latest strategy paper for substance misuse in Dundee. The committed people working hard to deliver our drugs services operate within countless policy frameworks, strategies etc. So much so, that in Dundee’s document there is no overall clear plan on what we are trying to achieve.
Are we trying to reduce the number of deaths? Are we trying to support people to stop using street drugs? Are we trying to support people who have been on methadone for years gradually off and into full recovery? Are we trying to stop the use of drugs in the first place? I do not believe that it is clear to anyone involved that Dundee has a clear objective and is driving change.
In all the meetings I have attended there is a common theme. Dundee’s treatment system is more punitive than other places. What does this mean? It means that for those who are trying to get off street drugs and into treatment, it is more difficult than in other parts of Scotland. I am told that one dirty sample (street drugs in your blood) and you are out of treatment. People in treatment tell me that they want to reduce their dose of methadone. The doctors tell them they are not ready and the same dose is prescribed. If they drink less of the methadone to try to reduce the dose themselves, the pharmacist is obliged to report them back to the doctor and again, they’re pulled out of treatment.
This treatment regime is concerning because we know that lives can be more stable and fulfilled if people are in treatment. In some European countries 80% of drug users are in treatment. People hold down jobs and live active lives. In Scotland only 40% of problem drug users are in treatment. If it’s more difficult in Dundee to get into treatment, we can start to see how our drug deaths rate starts to become the worst in Europe.
I am also told that counselling and services that would support recovery are scarce in Dundee and, where they exist, their interaction with the central NHS drugs service is very limited.
I don’t pretend to have all the answers to this. I don’t deny it is complex and difficult and I am not an expert, but I see it as a politician’s job to ask these questions and ask if the way things are being run is in the best interests of all our citizens and the children that deal with the devastating impact of drug addiction.
If the Drugs Commission that Dundee City Council is launching today can ask these questions honestly of drug users, the NHS and support services then I believe we can start to put a plan together to improve the lives of drug users and bring hope to families.
Dundee must get its own detox and rehab centres to save the city from further drugs tragedy, according to a community activist.
Stella Carrington said it is wrong that Dundee is the only major city in Scotland without the dedicated facilities when it is the country’s drugs death capital.
Ms Carrington, who has campaigned for more than a decade for a drugs policy revolution, said heroin should be more widely available on prescription and called on the city to fast-track the opening of injection rooms.
“We know what is required to wage war on substance misuse – safe injection rooms, decriminalise cannabis and prescription heroin,” said the former Dundee Citizen of the Year and president of the Charleston Residents’ Association.
“I would go as far as calling for detox and rehabilitation centres. Aberdeen, Edinburgh and Glasgow have them, why not Dundee?
“We need the people of Dundee to demand these services, considering we have the highest number of deaths from substance misuse in Scotland,” she said.
Last week, Nicola Sturgeon backed fix rooms as she called for politicians to have the courage for a new approach to drugs, even though it could trigger a public backlash.
The First Minster told Holyrood on Thursday: “On this issue there is always a need for new and bold thinking and we should try and come together and do that and be prepared to sometimes do things that may be controversial and may in some areas may be unpopular.
“But where there is an evidence base for them, we should have the courage to do them.”
There were 38 drug-related deaths in Dundee in 2016, according to National Records of Scotland.