The Scottish Government has announced a big increase in rehab placements - but has been slammed for going too slow.
The number of people in residential rehabilitation for alcohol and drug addiction went up to 218 between April and June this year, compared to 78 during the same period last year.
But the target for 2026, pledged by drugs policy minister Angela Constance, is for 1,000 to be in treatment - meaning almost five times as many as today must be placed.
Scottish Labour’s health spokesperson Claire Baker said things need to be speeded up.
She said: “Three years ago a public health emergency was declared but we haven’t seen the speed or scale of changed required. Since the declaration thousands of lives have been lost.
“We need urgent action to ensure people who suffer from addiction can access the full range of services as quickly as possible wherever they live. A failure to do so will mean lives will continue to be needlessly lost.”
Annemarie Ward, of the FAVOR addiction charity, said: “The Scottish Government is trumpeting the massive progress they have made but the reality is that they are still less than 25 per cent of the way from the target of 1,000 desperate Scots in rehab.
“I note today the opening of the Phoenix Futures family facility in Saltcoats, which is to be applauded. But we need similar establishments in every single Scottish local authority if we are to properly commit to dealing with our drug deaths emergency.”
She added: " if the stats are real then they are still 25% off but we suspect it's far more because they are counting detox and stabilisation beds as rehab."
In stats released by Public Health Scotland, the average number of placements is currently sitting at 67 per month during the current financial year, up from 39 per month in 2021/22.
Spending on residential rehabilitation increased from £969,277 during the first three months of the year to £1,746,986 between April and June.
The Scottish Government claims that, between April and June, 90.6% of community referrals were completed with a wait of three weeks or less, compared to 92% in the previous quarter.
Last year, the Scottish Government said it would invest £100 million to residential rehabilitation over the current five-year term of the Scottish Parliament.
Drugs Policy Minister Angela Constance said the goal is to increase funding by 300%.
She said: “We welcome the publication of these latest statistics published by Public Health Scotland, and are encouraged to see that between April and June this year there were 218 placements into residential rehabilitation.
“These numbers represent the highest number of quarterly placements on record, meaning more people with problem drug and alcohol use are accessing residential treatment and support to aid their recovery.
“While the statistics do indicate progress, we recognise that more can still be done to get people into appropriate treatment quicker in order to reduce harms and help with recovery.
“Through our work on pathways into rehab and investment in capacity we aim to increase the number of placements by 300% over the course of this parliament, so that in 2026 at least 1,000 people are publicly-funded for their placement.
“Our National Mission aims to widen access to all types of treatment.”
Harper House in Saltcoats, Ayrshire, Scotland’s new National Specialist Residential Family Service is now accepting referrals.
The service, run by the Phoenix Futures group, offers safe, structured support for the whole family to address drug and/or alcohol use, improve their mental health and quality of life.
Recent estimated figures showed that the drug death rate appears to be slowing but Scotland remains, by miles, the worst nation in Europe for overdose deaths.
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