YOUNG people today are at risk of becoming a new ‘Trainspotting generation’ amid a fresh wave of social security sanctions and the rise of zero-hours contracts, researchers have warned.
It comes as a study blames high unemployment and welfare cuts under the Thatcher government for a subsequent spike in drug deaths in Scotland in the 1990s, with males born in deprived areas between 1970 and 1975 worst hit.
The 'Drug-related deaths in Scotland' study, carried out by Glasgow University and NHS Health Scotland, said that it was "likely" that Scotland's excess rates of mortality from drugs, alcohol and suicide compared to England and Wales "could share a common causal pathway stemming from the changing social and economic policies of the 1980s".
This caused a "delayed negative health impact" which was felt most acutely among young males from the most deprived areas entering the job market in the early 1990s who had "been exposed to high unemployment levels and diminishing support" while growing up.
It was this cohort who were portrayed as Edinburgh heroin addicts in the 1996 film, 'Trainspotting'.
The paper, published today, warns that the fallout from the policies of the Thatcher era is still being felt as Generation X ages and that drugs services "will need to adapt to their needs as co-morbidities from chronic conditions associated with ageing and drug use become more prevalent".
It adds that there is also a risk of history repeating itself in the current climate of austerity.
It states: "There is also a risk that more recent exposures to a more ‘flexible’ labour market and greater conditionality and sanctions in the social security system, particularly for young working-age adults, may in time lead to another cohort at high risk. Continued surveillance of this population is therefore merited."
The study analysed drug deaths in Scotland between 1979 to 2013. After falling in both sexes between 1979 and 1986, drug-related deaths began rising in the second half of the decade and in 1990 "increased noticeably", particularly among young males from the most deprived areas.
The generation born between 1960 and 1980 - known as 'Generation X' - "experienced considerably higher drug-related death rates" over the timeline of the study and was "primarily responsible for the increasing number of deaths over time". Within this, men from the most deprived areas who were born between 1970 and 1975 were worst affected.
Males from the poorest neighbourhoods were also ten times more likely to die from drug than women of the same age in more affluent postcodes.
Dr Andrew Fraser, Director of Public Health Science at NHS Health Scotland, said: “Drug-related deaths rates have continued to increase in Scotland. This work suggests this is likely to be the result of a cohort of people who are at higher risk of drug-related deaths.
"The full impact of excess mortality in these cohorts with high drug-related deaths is unlikely to be known for some time. It already represents the deaths of hundreds of people prematurely."
Dr John Minton, the report author, added: "The same kind of pattern we have observed and reported on previously regarding the risk of suicide in vulnerable cohorts in deprived areas in Scotland is repeated, and even more clearly visible, when looking at trends in drug-related death risk.
"For people born in 1960s and 70s, the risk of drug-related deaths throughout the life course was much increased, and gender and area inequalities in these risks increased even more."
Scottish Labour leader Kezia Dugdale said the report highlighted the "devastating legacy" of Thatcherism for Scotland.
She said: “The Tory government’s policies of the 1980s - which saw the destruction of many working class communities and a vast rise in unemployment - led to rising income inequality and eroded hope across Scotland and the UK.
“For many drugs became a form of escape. A generation on, hundreds of people have already died from drug use, and many remain at risk.
“This report must serve as a reminder to today’s politicians that we must never go back to the days when the most vulnerable in society were simply abandoned.”
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel