Hundreds of millions spent but health of drug users no better

The health of many p eop le misusing drugs and alcohol h a s n o t improved i n a d e c - ade despite the Scottish Government spending more than £740 million on the problem.

Publishing a review of drug and alcohol ser vices, Audit Scotland said there was much work still to do, particularly in tackling drug misuse.

T h e r e p o r t r e v i e w e d progress in the 10 years since t h e S c o t t i s h G ove r n me n t ’s first national harm reduction strategies and made suggestions for actions that would help successful implementation of the government’s new strategy, launched last year.

Scotland has the highest rate of drug-related deaths in western Europe, with the number of p eople dying exp ected to reach 1,000 this year.

Audit Scotland said the outcomes for many people misu s i n g d r u g s a n d a l c o h o l i n Scotland had not improved in a decade, despite some areas of progress.

And it said a long-term strategy was needed to tackle the stigma of drug misuse similar to the work underway on mental health.

Caroline Gardner, Auditor Ge n e r a l f o r S c o t l a n d , s a i d : “The last decade has seen seve r a l n o t a b l e a c h i e ve me n t s i n d r u g a n d a l c o h o l t r e a t - ment in S cotland, including more recovery communities, improved drug harm reduction strategies and minimum unit pricing for alcohol.

“But without clear performance data around what measures are working, the governme n t w i l l c o n t i n u e t o f i n d it hard to achieve its aim of reducing deaths and b etter supporting people to recover.”

Statistics published last year showed there were 934 drugrelated deaths registered in 2017, the largest number since records began.

C a mp a i g n e r s h ave c a l l e d for a range of radical interventions such as a drug consumption room in Glasgow and consideration of decriminalisation, a policy which has helped reduce deaths in Portugal since its introduction there in 2001.

Public health minister Joe Fitzpatrick said: “We welcome the Audit Scotland report on d r u g a n d a l c o h o l s e r v i c e s i n S c o t l a n d . I t h i g h l i g h t s a number of the positive steps we are taking to tackle drug a n d a l c o h o l - r e l a t e d h a r ms including the introduction of the take-home Naloxone programme, Minimum Unit Pricing and the fact we are meeting our targets in terms of drug and alcohol treatment waiting times.

“I b e l i e ve t h a t wh a t S c o tland faces in drug deaths is an emergency. To determine what more we can do I will soon be convening an expert group to advise on what further changes, in practice or in law, could help save lives and reduce harm.”

cmarshall@scotsman.com