Document could be a turning point for both city and country

The Dundee Drugs Commission should inform a national strategy on how to tackle drug abuse in Scotland, according to Dundee City Council leader John Alexander.

Mr Alexander said the 80-page report paints an honest picture of failings in drug services in Dundee but he, like other members of the Dundee Partnership, feels it marks the start of successful new beginning for treatment services in Dundee.

Mr Alexander said: “This is not a whitewash. It is saying exactly what the challenges are.

“But the other factor is this is not a Dundee-specific issue, we’ve got to see this a national issue.

“We have got the ability to bring about local responses and then factor them into the national conversation.”

Mr Alexander said he wants the report to become a turning point in the way addiction issues are treated in Dundee.

He said: “Hopefully, we can look back in 10 years and can see the difference that has been made.

“Anybody can be affected or afflicted by drugs. We have to see it as a personal issue and that these are human beings.”

He added he has already been in discussions with counterparts in Glasgow, which has similar rate of drug-related deaths to Dundee, about what lessons it can learn from Dundee’s situation and vice-versa.

NHS Tayside chief executive Grant Archibald said drug services in Dundee must “rise to the challenges” identified in the report.

He said: “This is a challenge not just for Dundee but for the whole of Britain.”

Mr Archibald added services have to work for drug users who have for “far too long been stigmatised” by their addiction. “As we move forward we have to learn the lessons of the report and to turn that into real actions,” he said. “This is a very complex matter and there is no single factor that led us to this position.”

Chief Superintendent Andrew Todd, Police Scotland’s divisional commander for Tayside, said: “This is a challenge for society.

“Enforcement has a key role to play. People who profit from the sale and supply of controlled drugs will be targeted relentlessly.

“But we recognise that, in itself, is not a solution. It has to be part of a partnership approach.”

The new chairman of Dundee’s Alcohol and Drugs Partnership, Simon Little, said he believes the focus should be on the future of treatment services in the city, rather than mistakes that may have been made in the past.

He said he wants to “strengthen the leadership” in drug treatment services.

Mr Little said: “We want to make everybody feel accountable and to feel they can make a difference.”

He added it will also be important for drug treatment services to hear the voices of people who have experience of drug addiction, either as users or carers.

He warned changes will not happen immediately.

“It is a long road with many steps,” he warned.

“But for me it is not doom and gloom.

“This has got to be a watershed moment for us where we are now going to reverse these trends.”

John Alexander is leader of Dundee City Council.