By Bill Heaney
For years, drug deaths have been Scotland’s national shame. This week, it emerged that the number has risen again—it is up by 10 per cent on the previous year.
Humza Yousaf’s new Minister for Drugs and Alcohol Policy, Christina McKelvie, was asked for her response.
She said that “the plan is working”. Surely Humza Yousaf cannot agree with that, Douglas Ross, the Conservative leader, asked at First Minister’s Questions in the Scottish Parliament today.
First Minister Humza Yousaf, Tory leader Douglas Ross and Drugs Minister Christina McKelvie.
Humza Yousaf told him: “My condolences and the condolences of the entire Government are with every single person who has lost a loved one to a suspected drug death.
“However, we know from engaging with those families that they do not want warm words or words of sympathy or condolence; they want action.
“I was devastated to see that rise, particularly as we witnessed some progress in the previous year, with a reduction in the number of suspected drug deaths.
“The problem is a deep-rooted, endemic and insidious one in our society, and we are taking a range of significant actions to try to tackle it. We are absolutely committed to that.
“We have an unwavering and unshakeable commitment to the national mission to tackle drug deaths. That is why we have continued to expand residential rehab services.
“We have provided £50 million a year to community and grass-roots organisations that help people in their local areas who are suffering from substance abuse and addiction.
“We have progressed work with local authorities on safer consumption rooms, and we have continued to roll out the carriage of naloxone [by the police and others] and to drive up the medication assisted treatment standards, as well as taking a range of other actions. We will continue to maintain the drugs budget for 2024-25.
“The rise in the number of suspected drug deaths is deeply disheartening but, from the Government’s perspective, it will only serve to ensure that we rededicate and recommit ourselves to tackling one of the most insidious challenges and problems that we face in our society.”
However, Douglas Ross was not content with this answer. He said: ” The First Minister referenced last year’s figures. In August last year, the former drugs minister said that the Government was turning the tide on the drug deaths crisis. We now hear from the current drugs minister that, even with a 10 per cent increase, she believes that ‘the plan is working’. It is absolutely not.
“The number of drug deaths in Scotland has consistently been the highest across Europe, and the number is on the rise again. The Scottish National Party’s plan is not working, and the SNP seems to be repeating the same mistakes all over again.
“Nicola Sturgeon let a rehab facility in her constituency close in 2019. Now Humza Yousaf has let Turning Point Scotland 218, which is a vital rehab service for women in Glasgow, close. The head of justice at Turning Point Scotland said: ‘The loss of this service is likely to lead to more women in custody and trapped within the justice system’.
“Just in January, the First Minister said that that service does ‘excellent work’”. He added: ‘I value the project very highly’. Just a few weeks later, it closed. Why did that happen?”
The First Minister replied: “I give an absolute confirmation that the Minister for Drugs and Alcohol Policy, Christina McKelvie, and I, during our visit to the Bothy, which is an excellent community project, said that we absolutely believe that we have to rededicate ourselves and take further action, because we know that the rise is unwelcome.
“Douglas Ross is right to say that the number of suspected drug deaths per head of the population in Scotland is higher than the number in other parts of the UK, although other parts of the UK have also seen a rise.
“I suspect that that is partly because of the tide that we are up against. We are, of course, seeing more potent, stronger and more addictive substances on our streets, such as synthetic opioids and nitazines. There is absolutely no complacency about the action that we must take.
“The closure [of 218] was Glasgow City Council’s decision, not ours. The only decision that was made by the Scottish Government was that, when the council asked whether it could retain the £1.5 million funding for re-tendering to another service, we said that we would allow it to retain that money and use it flexibly.
“It would not be correct to say that there are no facilities for women who are dealing with substance abuse in Glasgow. There is a range of those, and I would be happy to release the letter that we have received from the health and social care partnership.
“There is Tomorrow’s Women Glasgow, a community-based service for women who are involved in the justice system, and the Glasgow drug court, which operates a women-only clinic one day a week. Glasgow has purchased 59 residential placements for men or women in alcohol and drug recovery services, and there are 60 sustained tenancy placements that are specifically open to those involved with justice social work.”
He added: “There is a gender-specific community support service, and there are other services. We continue to provide record funding this year to alcohol and drugs partnerships, and we will continue to take action with our local authorities.
“Like my predecessor, I am happy to continue cross-party work, so that we can work collectively to tackle one of the most challenging issues that our society faces.”
But Douglas Ross pressed on: “The First Minister wants to dodge responsibility for the closure of a vital service that has served women in Glasgow for two decades. Let us listen to what the Unite regional officer, Linda Wilson, said: ‘It’s utterly shameful that both Glasgow City Council and the Scottish Government believe the best way to help vulnerable women is to cut beds and slash the funding of a lifeline service’.
“Newspaper reports today include emails that suggest that the Government was aware that Turning Point Scotland 218 would be closed but did not step in to prevent the closure. Unite says that it was … crystal clear … that the Scottish Government was central to the decision-making process which led to the 218 Service closing.
“Humza Yousaf is trying to avoid responsibility and is using the same excuses as Nicola Sturgeon used. Why is the SNP making the same mistakes all over again?”
The First Minister hit back: ” I will try to inject some facts into this discussion. We are not cutting the number of beds. The Scottish Government has invested £38 million in expanding capacity in residential rehab as part of the national mission.
“Of such beds, 32 are operational and another 38 are in the pipeline for the next few months. We believe that we are absolutely on track, with our projected funding, to meet our commitment to increase the overall residential rehab capacity from 425 to 650 by 2026.
“We are also very much on track to meet the targets that we have set for publicly funded rehab placements, so Douglas Ross’s suggestion that we are cutting the number of residential rehab beds is simply not true.
“Regarding Glasgow City Council’s decision about the 218 service, I am happy to release the letters about that if they have not been released already. I will quote directly from the letter that one of our civil servants wrote to Glasgow City Council:
“We consider that any decision to retender the service is entirely a matter for Glasgow City Council but confirm we have no objection to the replacement service utilising the funding currently allocated to the 218 service.
“We did the right thing by ensuring that funding was flexible for the local authority. A range of initiatives are still available for women in Glasgow to access, including the Lilias community custody centre, which is based in Glasgow and where practice in supporting all women who are serving sentences has evolved greatly.
“There is also Glasgow’s Hemat Gryffe Women’s Aid and Glasgow East Women’s Aid, which can provide up to 64 safe places for women, and SAY Women, which supports women aged from 16 to 25 and has nine spaces in purpose-built flats. There is a range of initiatives.
“I would be happy to write to Douglas Ross with detail about how we are supporting Glasgow City Council and other local authorities [including West Dunbartonshire] to ensure that they increase residential rehab, rather than decreasing it.”
But Douglas Ross was having none of that. He said: ” I do not know how the First Minister can possibly stand there and say that he is supporting people who are struggling when a facility has closed after 20 years of supporting vulnerable women.
The Government was involved. Emails that were published in a newspaper article today said that the tendering of the 218 service was ‘with relevant ministers for a view’.
“Another email referred to the ‘likelihood’ of ‘needing ministerial clearance for any new approach’. That is what is in the emails that have been published today. During the SNP’s leadership contest, Humza Yousaf said ‘“if there’s more money we can give to alcohol and drugs in particular, then that is going to be a priority focus for me’.
“Well, it is clear that it is not a priority. Nicola Sturgeon cut funding for drug treatment in 2015, and the number of drug deaths rose. This year, Humza Yousaf has cut the treatment budget in real terms.
“The SNP promised to create hundreds of new rehab beds, but it has managed to create just over 30. The addiction crisis in Scotland is out of control.
“Since the SNP came to power, the number of drug deaths has doubled. We have the worst figures in Europe, and new figures show that the number of deaths is increasing again.
“Scotland’s shame has not gone away. Nicola Sturgeon admitted that she ‘took her eye off the ball’. Has Humza Yousaf not done exactly the same?
The First Minister responded: “I reject that in its entirety. We have increased the drugs budget over the years. For example, we have presided over a 67 per cent increase in funding between 2014-15 and 2023-24, according to Audit Scotland figures that were recently published.
“The draft budget for 2024-25 has maintained our alcohol and drugs budget at the same level, and this year there has been record funding of £130 million for alcohol and drugs partnerships.
“Our budget has been cut by £500 million in real terms by the UK Government. If Douglas Ross is able to convince his colleagues south of the border to give further funding to Scotland, I absolutely promise him that drugs and alcohol policy will be one of the areas that we will look to give further funding to.”
Later, responding to new Police Scotland figures showing that there were 1,197 suspected drug deaths between January and December 2023, which is a 10% increase compared to 2022, Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Alex Cole-Hamilton MSP, right, said: “When 100 people a month are dying in Scotland’s drugs deaths emergency, we need to be open to anything that will save them. Each represents a life cut short and a family torn apart by grief.
“These numbers are already going in the wrong direction and with the SNP and Greens having pushed through a budget that delivers a real-terms cut to drug services, I am extremely concerned that problems will simply get worse.
“Every tool at our disposal needs to be used to reduce harm and save lives. That includes protecting the drug and alcohol budget, integrated drug checking facilities and preparing now for a network of safe consumption rooms because help can’t just be limited to Glasgow.
“Well-meaning words won’t stop people dying. Humza Yousaf and his government must deliver swift change and ensure they never take their eye off the ball again.”
- See Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar’s response in full is elsewhere in The Democrat.