MSPs offered ‘severe solutions’ to halve addiction damage

Think-tank eyes safe drug rooms for addicts

By Tim Pauling

Published:

A Scottish Parliament think-tank yesterday called for special rooms to be set up where addicts can take drugs safely.

The legalisation and taxing of cannabis have also been put forward as tactics that should be investigated.

And prescription heroin should also be considered for a small number of addicts as part of a radical new approach aimed at halving the damage caused by drugs and alcohol in Scotland by 2025.

A year-long inquiry has concluded that severe solutions are needed if Scotland is to reduce the harm caused by drugs and alcohol.

The Scotland’s Futures Forum believes money is being wasted by treating drugs and alcohol as criminal problems rather than as health, lifestyle and social issues.

Forum members believe policy-makers must be prepared to look at evidence from around the world when considering solutions.

Chairman Frank Pignatelli admitted the public may take some convincing before agreeing to so-called shooting galleries, where addicts can take drugs.

Yesterday, launching the report Approaches to Alcohol and Drugs in Scotland, he said new solutions were needed “when everything else has failed”.

“The forum has concluded that significantly reducing the damage caused by drug and alcohol misuse is possible with strong leadership, honest debate and sophisticated, flexible policy approaches based on what works,” he said.

“After all, some of the problem alcohol and drugs users of 2025 have yet to be born, so it’s all to play for.”

The forum stressed that its findings were not recommendations, but options for government and other organisations to consider.

It advocated a new evidence-based approach to the regulation of illegal and legal drugs under a single framework that took risk into account.

Forum vice-chairman and former Lothian and Borders Police deputy chief constable Tom Wood said: “Sometimes the evidence takes us to uncomfortable places, places that challenge our prejudices and challenge our morality. I think we have to visit some of these uncomfortable places and look at the evidence and look and see what actually works, rather than follow our hand-knitted ideas of what’s right and what’s wrong.”

Last week, the Scottish Government revealed its new drug strategy, which places greater emphasis on helping addicts become drug-free.

The government said it had no plans for drug rooms but it welcomed the report’s support for an approach based on recovery for problem users.

The Liberal Democrats des-cribed the report as “thought-provoking” and “pushing the boundaries”. Justice spokeswoman Margaret Smith said: “Drugs misuse is a global problem and, if other countries have developed new and radical solutions, then it is sensible to consider them for use in Scotland.”

Scottish Tory leader Annabel Goldie said “shooting galleries” and legalisation of cannabis were “ideas from the last two decades”.

“Tackling drugs abuse and putting in place a programme that eradicates rather than manages the problem is a long-term aspiration,” she said. “It will take years to become fully successful. But if today’s report demonstrates one thing, it is that we cannot fall back into yesterday’s thinking.”