The Scottish Drugs Forum (SDF) is telling parliamentary candidates a sometimes “punitive” culture of services supporting people using drugs needs to change, and is calling for Scotland to double the number of people in treatment.

In a manifesto released ahead of the 6^th May Holyrood elections, the charity says treatment levels should be boosted from the current figure of 35% to 70% of those who could benefit from it, bringing it in line with levels in England.

Asked by healthandcare.scot whether recent Scottish government funding pledges to enhance treatment services were sufficient, SDF’s Austin Smith said:

“It’s not about money, it’s about the culture of services, and then it’s about the capacity of services.”

He added: “We need to have people in treatment and that treatment needs to be adequate enough to attract people and hold people in treatment, so that people aren’t dropping out of treatment of their own volition.

“There’s a lot of punitive behaviour – people are in effect pushed out of services in a way that no other NHS patient would be pushed out of treatment.

“We allow people across society to stigmatise people and treat them differently and then we wonder why people act differently.”

SDF says that a ‘culture change’ is needed, with staff supported to identify and challenge stigmatising behaviour.

Key treatment recommendations in the manifesto, alongside boosting patient numbers, include targeted services for women – including those who are mothers and might be reluctant to seek help in case they lose their child.

On harm reduction, the charity is calling for pre-exposure prophylaxis, or PreP – a drug that prevents HIV transmission, currently offered to men who have sex with men – to be offered to those at risk of the disease because they inject drugs.

SDF wants to see possession of drugs decriminalised and a review of ‘not fit for purpose’ UK-wide drugs legislation.

It says the Scottish government should work with the Lord Advocate to ‘circumvent’ legal barriers to introducing safe consumption rooms, which are currently being blocked by the Westminster government.

SDF CEO David Liddell added: “Very recent changes including political leadership and investment are very welcome. We need to build on this and use the current momentum to deliver change. Key to that is developing the capacity to listen to and involve people with a drug problem in the development of better services and strategy. 

“We believe there may be an emerging consensus to address the poverty and stigma which at the root of the challenge we face in Scotland. We can also see that a consensus on the benefit and need to improve treatment is well established – there is reason for cautious optimism in the face of what remains a public health crisis.”

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