New figures released have shown that drug and alcohol treatment times have met the target set by the Scottish Government. 

Public Health Scotland data revealed that in the quarter leading to March 31, 7,622 people were referred for services and of those, 7,007 received their first treatment within three weeks. 

That's the equivalent of 91.9%, which is a rise on the previous figure of 90.6% from the last quarter of last year. 

The Scottish Government set a target of 90% of cases receiving their first treatment within three weeks but despite meeting the national target, five health boards did miss it. 

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Highland, Lothian, Forth Valley, the Western Isles and Orkney all missed it and drugs minister Christina McKelvie says they will continue to work closely with them to achieve it. 

She said: “The waiting times standard was met nationally, with the majority of health boards attaining or exceeding it.

“We will continue to engage with Alcohol and Drug Partnerships that did not achieve the standard to drive up performance and support substance users.

“My focus is on taking action to save and improve lives now as part of our £250 million national mission.”

Of the referrals, the majority (51.2%) was for alcohol use, while 36.3% was for drugs and 12.5% was as a result of co-dependency.