The final report of the Scottish Drug Deaths Taskforce has called for a major cash injection amid “woefully inadequate” funding during our drug death emergency.
After three years of research and deliberations, the Drug Deaths Taskforce delivered a scathing report on the lack of money to deliver on the promises made in previous years.
The 145 page report outlines 10 key principles and 20 recommendations which are underpinned by 139 actions to tackle the drug related deaths explosion - which led to 1,339 deaths last year alone..
The Taskforce - set up as a direct response to Daily Record campaigning on drug deaths - has demanded a Scottish Government response within six months.
In a major embarrassment to the Scottish Government, its final report sets a new target to embed vital new MAT standards for drug treatment to 2024 - more than two years behind the schedule set in stone by drugs minister Angela Constance last year.
The Changing Lives document, released yesterday, also makes recommendations that would enshrine a public health response that gives more rights and access to treatment to those with addiction issues.
But it accepts that cash needs to be poured in if Scotland is to have any chance of removing itself from the top of the European drug deaths table.
The report states: “The significant treatment and recovery system changes we have outlined in this report will require adequate resourcing if they are to be fully implemented.
“The total £140.7m funding for alcohol and drugs represented 0.8% of the health and sport budget in 2021/22.
“The £140.7 million funding is for alcohol and drugs. The prevalence of possible dependence on alcohol is significantly higher. It is clear, therefore, that demand for services far outstrips the supply of funding.
“It is for this reason that we have concluded that the current level of funding is woefully inadequate for this level of public health emergency.”
The report puts the spotlight on Nicola Sturgeon, adding: “The First Minster has publicly recognised that her Government ‘took their eye of the ball.
“The question now is whether the Government will provide targeted funding to enable services to deliver transformational change – not a return to the funding of the past, but an ambitious and radical commitment to making people’s lives better.”
Despite demanding rapid action the Taskforce report actually recommends a deadline of two years for implementing vital “MAT Standards”, which guarantee same day treatment and a choice of treatment for drug addicts.
The report states: “The MAT standards present the most significant shift in the sector in many years. They will need to be properly resourced to be fully implemented.”
The Taskforce recommends yet another “rapid” review of 10 MAT Standards - five of which were meant to be in place by April this year after a pledge by Scottish drugs Policy Minister Angela Constance.
The report demands an end to the massive fobbing off of people presenting for drug treatment - with a “no wrong door” policy that brings immediate treatment, be it methadone, residential rehab or other treatment.
Taskforce chairman David Strang admitted that the Scottish Government had been overambitious is pledging to implement the first five MAT Standards - including same day treatment for all drug problems - within a year.
He said: “I’m not going to speak for the Scottish Government. The reason that we’re making such a hard hitting report is because things do need to change.
“I think the statement that could be done in a year was probably unrealistic. The taskforce didn’t set the timescale for that. The timescale now is a realistic one and that it will that it will make a difference introducing all 10 MAT standards in the next in the next two years.”
He added: “This needs to be a shake up so that we take addiction and drug deaths as seriously as we would other deaths and put in place systems that will that will make a real difference.”
Strang, a former Chief Constable of Lothian and Borders Police and Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Prisons for Scotland, also admitted that Scottish services fobbing off people in great need of lifesaving help needs to stop.
He said: “Our ‘No Wrong Door’ idea is really important so that people are not pushed from mental health services to addiction services to somewhere else. Services should be held to account so that’s why we’re saying about having clear guidance, clear standards and having inspections.
“We also make the point that resources are needed, particularly on things like stabilisation, beds and rehabilitation. These things will take additional resource and so that’s a responsibility on the government to find that.
“If you say to someone to come back in three weeks or six weeks time, then that moment when you can help them may have passed and that’s really critical in the treatment of someone with addiction.”
He also called for an end to a postcode lottery on treatment, adding: “We are saying that wherever you live in Scotland, and we recognise that clearly, remote rural areas are going to be different from the major cities, but you shouldn’t be a victim of a poor treatment just because of where you live.
“At the moment, things are pretty haphazard, and I don’t think services are held to account in the way that they should be, would be for other treatments or treatments for other health conditions.
Strang said he hoped the Taskforce legacy would be a clear trajectory of reduced drug deaths, measurable within a year.
He said: “I’m not going to put a numerical target on it but I would want to see drug deaths reducing significantly over the next one to five years so that we have a sustained downward trend.
“And I believe that’s absolutely possible if the measures in our report are put in place. I think it will have a significantly positive impact on the lives of people who use drugs and reduce the number of deaths.”
The Taskforce demands parity of treatment, stopping the current postcode lottery that has denied treatment to people, many of whom are thought to have died as a result.
It also advocates 24/7 access to emergency drug services for those most at risk.
Taskforce chairman Davis Strang was parachuted in seven months ago after previous chair Catriona Matheson resigned, claiming she was being rushed into publishing the current final recommendations.
