Almost one adult in 50 is a problem user, a figure that puts Scotland second highest for drug use among European countries and leads in many cases to crime and the neglect of children. This scourge on society must be tackled more effectively.
The SNP’s failure to implement its 2007 election manifesto commitment to increase funding of drugs rehabilitation services by 20% has justifiably come under pressure from both Labour and Conservatives. The announcement of £28.6m to health boards next year for drug treatment services (amounting to a 20% increase on 2006-7 levels) is, therefore, a welcome recognition that, despite the financial shortfall, there is an urgent need for more and better recovery programmes.
Community Safety Minister Fergus Ewing makes the economic case that for every £1 spent on treatment to tackle drug addiction, £9.50 is saved for the public purse. That is exactly why treatment programmes must be made more effective. Illegal drug use costs the Scottish economy £2.6bn a year, but many of the social costs, particularly where children are affected by their parents’ addiction, are incalculable.
About one Scottish child in 20 is brought up with at least one parent addicted to drugs. This is more than likely to lead to family breakdown and children being taken into care. Even when grandparents are able to take over the parental role, they often struggle to care for children damaged by abuse and neglect, particularly if they are on low incomes or in poor health.
The new Road to Recovery strategy is based on the principle that addicts can get better. That is a welcome sign of recognition that too many heroin users remain “parked” on methadone for far too long but it can only succeed with carefully-focused treatment. Such treatment must also be available to offenders if the justice strategy of substituting community payback and compulsory treatment for short prison sentences is not to end in failure. Effective treatment for offenders can lead to drug-free and crime-free lives, but often neither is achieved promptly nor cheaply.
That the new money for drug treatment is to be ring-fenced is a hopeful sign of commitment to producing the required outcome. Effective treatment of drug abusers is complex, but
failing to tackle the problem properly has already exacted too high a cost in both human and financial terms.
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