The next major Holyrood think-tank project, looking at how Scotland should tackle alcohol and drug abuse in the future, will be headed by education expert Frank Pignatelli.

The next major Holyrood think-tank project, looking at how Scotland should tackle alcohol and drug abuse in the future, will be headed by education expert Frank Pignatelli.

The former chief executive of learndirect Scotland and former director of education at Strathclyde Region was named yesterday by the Futures Forum as chair of the project board for their next one-year study, entitled Over the Horizon: Fresh Perspectives on Alcohol and Drugs.

Yesterday a conference attended by 250 experts at Holyrood highlighted the need to stress the link between the twin dangers of alcohol and illegal drugs.

Professor Tony King, the Essex University academic who chairs the Royal Society's commission on the issue, warned the problem would not be solved by a "quick fix".

His commission in London was loaded towards pragmatic, credible approaches, he said. "It seems to me that much of the public discourse over drugs is positively medieval, with drug users, not just drug addicts, passed as though they were fiends of some kind.

"It seems that style of thinking, that hot way of thinking instead of the cool way of thinking, is in itself harmful and does a great deal of damage."

Professor King claimed the Home Office should not be in charge of tackling the drugs problem, as the illegality of drug abuse should be seen as only one strand of the issue. This approach was backed by Tom Wood, chairman of the Scottish Association of Alcohol and Drug Action Teams.

He said: "The truth is that no-one here will live to see a drug-free Scotland and a drug-free Europe, and it is not defeatist to talk about that. If we vilify all alcohol and drugs then we will completely disengage that section of the community."