THE Scottish Government opted for “placebo policies” in its multimillion-pound response to the drug deaths crisis rather than tackling the issue’s root causes, academics have said.
A new report by academics at the University of the West of Scotland (UWS) has accused ministers of preferring a “managerial response” to the crisis instead of tackling it on a fundamental level.
The report painted a picture of a close relationship between the Scottish Government and organisations picked to respond to the crisis at the exclusion of other voices its authors considered key to tackling drug deaths, while also failing to address “entrenched intergenerational and postcode inequality”.
