Scottish Drugs Forum
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THE DUST has now begun to settle after the Holyrood election and some clarity is beginning to emerge on how drugs will be dealt with by the new administration.
There was some doubt in the immediate aftermath of the election where the lead role in terms of drugs would sit within the Executive, although it is clear now that the lead will remain with Justice.
The confusion arose from the mention of substance misuse as part of the Ministry of Health and Wellbeing, while drug policy and related matters are within the Justice portfolio, covered by Cabinet Secretary for Justice, Kenny MacAskill.
Interestingly, the Health Ministry, led by Nicola Sturgeon, will also cover, community care, social inclusion, anti-poverty measures and housing and regeneration.
With this wider remit, a move back to health for drug policy would seem to make perfect sense and would provide a real opportunity to ‘join up’ responses to drugs in the wider social context of poverty, housing and regeneration in a way that has thus far not been possible.
However, drug policy remains within Justice and it is vital these wider issues are dealt with effectively within this Division. We have already seen an encouraging change in the language used by the Scottish Cabinet.
Earlier this month, Kenny MacAskill talked about the need to tackle “not only with the manifestations of crime itself but also the factors that so often contribute to it - drugs, drink and deprivation. That does not mean excusing bad or poor behaviour but is a recognition of the clear links.”
He continued: “We will come down hard on serious and dangerous offenders but at the same time we need to deal with the underlying social and economic problems that lead to a lack of self esteem, a sense of hopelessness and despair. We will detain the dangerous but treat the troubled.”
Drugs Commission
The SNP manifesto also stresses the need for a long-term strategy and it is indeed vital that we move away from any notions that there are quick and easy solutions. It is crucially important that we look at the wider social factors rather than simplistically blaming individuals for their plight.
In order to do some long-term thinking, the SNP has given a commitment to establishing ‘a national Drugs Commission to develop and agree a long term national strategy backed up by a more robust evidence base’.
A minority administration means that they will need to build a cross party consensus on the way ahead and this can only help to embedding an agreed long-term approach.
The manifesto also promises a 20 percent increase in funding for treatment care and rehabilitation. This could mean as much as an additional £20 million a year for services.
The manifesto goes on to say that they ‘will seek to extend access to abstinence programs to the whole of Scotland and to ensure that treatment is accompanied by employability support to help those escaping a chemical lifestyle move on successfully.’
There is a real opportunity here to revisit issues around employability. For example, the New Futures Fund, now administered by Communities Scotland, would seem to also be part of Nicola Sturgeon’s Health portfolio, therefore allowing improved thinking on how such programmes link with treatment and care services.
All in all, we should be cautiously optimistic about what the political changes will bring.
As always, the devil is in the detail, but we can only hope that the new administration will be open to ideas and contributions from the wider field on what that detail should be.