Scotland still dealing with ‘long legacy’ of drug abuse

Dealing with drug abuse is still a significant challenge for Scotland, the Community Safety Minister has said. While new statistics offer some “hopeful signs” for those seeking help, the country is still “dealing with a long legacy of drugs use”, according to Roseanna Cunningham.

Last year 11,380 people had their drug use assessed to determine what help they needed, a slight reduction on the 2010-11 total of 11,696.

Older people make up a greater proportion of those being assessed for help, with around three-fifths of those seen last year aged 30 and over (62%), compared with half in 2006-07 (51%).

Fewer people reported taking heroin during the previous month, falling from 63% in 2010-11 to 55% in 2011-12. Among those assessed for help, heroin was the most commonly used illegal drug, followed by diazepam (34%) and cannabis (33%).

Only 8% of those being assessed used cocaine in the past month, 8% used heroin substitute methadone and 4% took crack cocaine. Around three-quarters of those assessed (73%) used benefit money to fund their habit, one in five turned to crime (21%) and around one in six got into debt (16%), with some users adopting more than one of these methods to pay for their drugs. Slightly fewer drug users had children under 16, at 38% compared with 41% in 2010-11.

Ms Cunningham said: “These figures indicate a reducing number of young people are accessing treatment. We know from other statistics that this is part of a trend which shows that fewer young people are using hard drugs such as heroin and cocaine.”

Since 2007-08 the Scottish Government has been working to increase young people’s understanding of the dangers of drugs through campaigns such as Know the Score, she said. But “these figures also remind us that in Scotland, we are dealing with a long legacy of drug use”.

Separate figures show 3,282 people began drugs treatment in October to December last year, of which 92.2% waited three weeks or less for an appointment. A total of 7,043 people started alcohol treatment in the final three months of last year, with 92% waiting three weeks or less for their first appointment.

There were 2,583 people waiting to start drug or alcohol treatment and, by the end of December, 4.2% of them had been waiting at least six weeks, up from 2.3% at the end of the previous quarter.