Minister announces £18m to help tackle drug addiction in Scotland

Those with “lived experience” of drug addiction will have a key role in shaping policy on the issue, a minister has said.

Drugs Policy Minister Angela Constance made the pledge as she announced £18 million of funds for drug treatment services in Scotland.

Holyrood debated the “national mission” to reduce drug deaths yesterday.

Ms Constance was appointed to the newlycreated role in December, after figures showed Scotland’s drug-related deaths rose to 1,264 in 2019, the highest number since records began.

Yesterday she said she recently met a group of women, dealing with drug dependency, who had delivered a message of “hopelessness” as they felt their “lives didn’t matter”.

Ms Constance said: “It is vital that we respond in a way that can restore hope to those who most need it, to show that their lives do, indeed, matter and they are valued as our fellow citizens.”

There will be local and national panels including people with “lived and living experience” involved in decisionmaking around the new drugs policy, she said.

The minister said this would include existing organisations and would be a “significant new approach”.

Of the £18m fund, £3m will go to children and families affected by drugs misuse.

Another £5m will help increase capacity for residential rehabilitation and £5m will help improve existing services.

Scottish Conservative health spokesman Donald Cameron said he welcomed the new approach from the Scottish Government, calling on ministers to work with their UK counterparts to deal with the issue.

He said: “We need braver and bolder policies to tackle the core causes of drug use.”

Labour MSP James Kelly tabled an amendment seeking more funding for drugs services, describing the number of deaths as “devastating”.

Liberal Democrat MSP Liam Mcarthur said: “People are dying preventable deaths, three, four, five and sometimes even six decades before their time.

“We owe it to all of them to drop all lingering excuses – there are none.”

Green MSP Alison Johnstone questioned the legal response to drug use.

She said: “This is a public health emergency. We can’t arrest our way out of the drug deaths crisis.

“We need to help people to manage their drug use rather than to punish them for it.”