Call For Rethink On Drugs Policy

A former health minister is calling for a radical rethink on drugs policy. Former Labour MSP, Susan Deacon, who is not standing for re-election, said politicians from all parties should stop talking tough on drugs.

She said emphasising law enforcement gets in the way of seeking other approaches through education and the health service. Ms Deacon wants to see better education programmes and a wider range of treatments to be made available.

“It’s not rocket science to say we need a range of policies and services available to respond to different needs,” she told BBC Scotland. “The idea there is one type of treatment that works and one that doesn’t is nonsensical. I think one of the big challenges that lies ahead is to ensure you have a range of treatment options available, not just for opiates like heroin but for the whole range of drug and substance misuse problems we have in society.”

Ms Deacon called for a review of the use of methadone. “There is some evidence that in Scotland there has been more widespread use and dependence on methadone so the idea of looking at this is eminently sensible,” she said.

Ms Deacon called for a wide-ranging debate on the drugs problem, but said talking tough was not effective. She said: “I think there is a very, very genuine commitment by a wide range of politicians and parties to try and do something meaningful about drugs.

“The difficulty often translates into some pretty rough rhetoric and sometimes good ideas but not really a wide-ranging, informed and comprehensive policy approach to the issue. Looking and talking tough isn’t necessarily about being effective. The real concern is that kind of emphasis has skewed investment and policy.”

She added that one of the main problems was that that large numbers of people are being criminalised while many others, who need treatment, are not receiving it. “There must be a more informed, measured approach to this debate to make progress in the future,” she said.

Scotland has one of the worst drug problems in Europe. There are thought to be 50,000 drug users in Scotland – about 1% of the population – and 20,000 on the methadone programme.

Professor Neil McKeganey, from the Centre for Drugs Misuse Research at Glasgow University, said 85%-90% of drug addicts on treatment were on methadone. “I don’t think it’s actually been as successful as its main proponents have thought,” he said.

“I think we’ve lost sight of the idea of getting addicts off drugs. The focus has been ‘let’s stop them committing crime’ and that’s the main response to the drug problem and frankly it’s not good enough for addicts, their families and Scotland.”

Prof McKeganey said the vast majority of people on the methadone programme were out of work, still committing crimes and still using illegal drugs. “We should have continuous public education campaigns in quite stark terms outlining the reality of drug addiction in young people’s lives,” he said.

He said Scotland’s drugs policy needed to be a combination of enforcement and treatment and said the country should appoint a drugs minister. “The single most dangerous perception we have about the drugs issue is that we’ve just now got to live with it,” he added. “This is a problem quite literally tearing the heart out of Scotland.”