Mental illness detentions in Scotland at all-time high
Detentions for mental illness are at their highest ever level, with young people accounting for the steepest rise, a new report says.
Ministers are being urged to investigate after figures from the Mental Welfare Commission showed the detention rate has risen most sharply among 16 and 17-year-olds.
The commission’s interim executive medical director, Dr Moira Connolly, said: “We already know of the increased number of children and young people seeking help for mental health issues, but we need to understand more about whether those pressures are now being reflected in our data regarding compulsory hospital treatment.”
MPS have called for some drug offences to be decriminalised, in a bid to prevent the rising number of related deaths.
A report by the Commons health and social care committee found the country’s position on drugs was “clearly failing” and called for a “radical new approach”.
It says drug possession for personal use should be a civil matter not a crime, and any policy should focus on healthcare, not prosecution.
It urged the UK Government to carry out a consultation on decriminalisation and to look at the system in Portugal where this was introduced, saying such a move would “save money” from the criminal justice system and allow for more investment in prevention and treatment.
The move could “save lives”, the report claimed, as it called for “sufficient funding” for alternative approaches.