Warm words won’t save drug addicts’ lives - Sue Webber

As if proof was needed about the abject failure of the Scottish Government to tackle the scourge of drug addiction, it is the new study of 50,000 Scots which showed opiate-related deaths trebled between 2011 and 2020.

Sue Webber is a Scottish Conservative MSP for the Lothians

While those on some form of treatment like methadone were over three times less likely to die than those untreated, the death rate among those on some sort of programme also rose.

It can only be presumed that the death rate amongst those who managed to kick their heroin habit is considerably lower than both, and it must surely be the aim of a responsible government to get as many addicts as possible off drugs altogether.

With 1,330 people losing their lives to drugs in 2021 alone, Scotland has the highest rate of drug deaths in Europe, and First Minister Humza Yousaf was right to admit the record over which the SNP has presided for 16 years is shameful. In a newspaper interview only three months ago he conceded the SNP had “not done as much as I think society would expect us to do”.

He added that he would keep the budget under review and promised, “If there’s more money we can give to alcohol and drugs in particular, then that’s going to be a priority focus for me”.

Let’s not forget that Mr Yousaf was health minister before he got the top job, so what does a priority for Mr Yousaf look like? Not anything you or I would recognise, because last year the SNP-Green government cut nearly £20 million from organisations supporting people with drug and alcohol problems.

This astonishing reduction in the face of an addiction epidemic was uncovered after I put a parliamentary written question to new SNP Minister for Drugs and Alcohol Policy, Elena Whitham, who confirmed the budget for organisations helping addicts was down to £111m from £130m in 2021-22.

Alcohol deaths are also at their highest level since 2008, with 1,245 people dying last year, so it therefore beggars belief that the SNP-Green government would even consider a 15 per cent cut from vital Third Sector services when so many Scots desperately need help. They provide out-of-hours and weekend services, critical because addiction is not a nine-to-five issue.

These cuts are more damning evidence that ministers have taken their eye off the ball, as Nicola Sturgeon once admitted she did, and not only should they be reversed, but the SNP-Greens should fully support the Scottish Conservatives’ Right to Recovery Bill which was written in conjunction with frontline experts and has cross-party backing.

As shadow drugs minister, I have had many conversations with drugs campaigner Annemarie Ward, the chief executive of Faces & Voices of Recovery, and she has repeatedly argued that a drugs programme without proper rehab is simply inadequate.

The new research is conclusive proof that while parking people on heroin substitutes can reduce the death rate, which we have always accepted, it does not help get people break their dependency to enjoy a healthy, drug-free, productive life.

Support groups are being forced to work with one hand tied behind their back, but Humza Yousaf can get the ball under more control by restoring their budgets and stop dragging his heels over the right to rehab. Warm words and contrition won’t save lives.

Sue Webber is a Scottish Conservative MSP for Lothian