Analysis by David Liddell, chief executive of the Scottish Drugs Forum
The sheer toll of drug-related deaths is a staggering weight carried by families and communities and the wider Scottish nation.
Just over 10,000 people have now died since figures were first issued in 1996.
That is the equivalent of the entire population of a Scottish town such as Fort William or Stranraer or Methil or Haddington.
In 2017, 934 people died, resulting in possibly around 10, 000 people losing someone close to them... in just one year.
That is an immeasurable loss. The impact of bereavement lasts a lifetime for those left behind. The harms to a child losing a parent, in particular, are huge.
People can and do recover, given the opportunity to improve their lives.
To allow people to do that we have to make sure that they survive their drug problem and this means allowing them to reduce the harm caused by drugs.
These deaths are entirely preventable.
We know how to prevent drug-related deaths – and yet we don’t do all we could to prevent them.
Death prevention means making sure there is accessible high-quality healthcare and support – like the rest of us are afforded when we are ill.
The Scottish Government is due to publish a new drugs strategy.
This is an opportunity for Scotland to look at itself and decide what kind of country it wants to be.
READ MORE: Anger at Scotland's record toll of preventable drug deaths
If we really believe in equalities and fairness, let’s work to support the last group in Scotland about whom it seems acceptable to express utter contempt and hatred based on irrational prejudice and stigma. A new Scottish drugs strategy should commit us to engaging all people with a drug problem in evidence-based treatment and using this as a basis on which they can address the issues they may face – mental and physical health, housing and employment, for example. As Scots we should ask ourselves why people in Scotland are two and half times more likely to die a drug-related death than people in the UK as a whole.
People with a drug problem, like all Scots, have some basic needs – access to healthcare, somewhere to live, something to do, and a group of people with whom they have a positive relationship – friends and family. For too long we have failed to provide the quality treatment that would allow people the stability to build such a life. That is our failing and something we should be determined to do something about.
David Liddell is chief executive of the Scottish Drugs Forum.
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