Scotland’s war on drugs ‘is hugely inefficient’
Initiatives to address Scotland’s drug problem are “hugely inefficient” due to the government’s failure to learn from past mistakes, senior professionals have warned.
The Scottish Drugs Strategy Delivery Commission’s (DSDC) first report on the national drugs strategy, “The Road To Recovery”, has criticised the lack of “institutional memory”.
Under the headline “Repeating The Past”, the commission said government has a tendency to “forget” lessons learned by previously ineffective initiatives and then effectively relaunch them.
The commission is an independent body of senior professionals from universities, industry, drugs charities, local authorities, police, an NHS board, a prison, and the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities.
The national drugs strategy was unveiled in May 2008, with ministers pledging £94 million over the next three years to tackle drug abuse. It signalled a shift away from the “management” of addicts to a bigger focus on rehabilitation and abstinence programmes.
The report stated: “Many DSDC members have been involved in national strategic work for over a decade and repeatedly raise concerns regarding the tendency for government to forget the processes and initiatives undertaken in the past and the lessons learned from this.
“New initiatives can reflect a relaunch of previous work, some of which may not have been effective. This pattern may reflect turnover of senior staff and ministers. As well as being demoralising for the field, this is hugely inefficient.
“DSDC recommends that the Scottish Government takes steps to improve its institutional memory.”
The commission also criticised the separation of drugs and alcohol issues by the Scottish Government and previous administrations.
The report stated that the national advisory committees, the Scottish Advisory Committee on Drugs Misuse and the Scottish Ministerial Advisory Committee on Alcohol Problems, have all been kept separate, with different ministers and officials.
It added: “At every other level, including the local delivery system of ADPs [Alcohol and Drug Partnerships], it is clear that there are benefits and efficiencies from bringing these agendas closer together. DSDC recommends that the Scottish Government seriously considers how this could be achieved.”
The report contains 23 recommendations to the Scottish Government with the aim of increasing the impact of the initiatives to address Scotland’s drug problem.
DSDC chairman Dr Brian Kidd said: “The key difference between us and previous groups advising government is our independence from government and our specific role to scrutinise the delivery of an agreed drugs strategy: The Road To Recovery.
“We took a proactive approach by taking evidence throughout 2010-11, regarding a range of key priority areas: to improve the safety of children affected by substance misuse; how local treatment services are changing to make recovery more likely; and examined local and national governance and quality processes to consider what progress changes in the delivery system has delivered.”
A Scottish Government spokesman said: “We welcome this report which marks the conclusion of the first year of the commission’s work and agree with the broad thrust of its recommendations, which largely reflect our own observations of the significant progress that has been made since publication of The Road To Recovery in 2008. The commission has reminded us of the inefficiencies of past decades and the importance of ensuring that policies join up at all levels.
“The Road To Recovery and the government’s alcohol framework are just two examples of more cohesive policies involving government and stakeholders that are making a difference by more effective joined-up working.”
Latest figures have revealed that the cost of Scotland’s methadone prescription programme has increased by more than 25 per cent over the last decade, to £15m a year.
Prescribing rates rose by 9 per cent in the same period despite the new strategy to get addicts on the road to recovery.
The Drug Misuse Statistics report, published in December, also revealed that a total of 10,325 people entered drug treatment services in 2009-10, with two-thirds of those using heroin.
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Comments
There are 54 comments to this article
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greenfox
Sunday, October 23, 2011 at 03:24 PM...yes grow mushrooms -the edible ones :-)
greenfox
Sunday, October 23, 2011 at 03:22 PMi just don't understand why anyone would want to DO drugs fullstop. Just wat's wrong with living life? Read a book...ride a bike.....go for a nice walk.....spend time with familyfriends renovatedecorate the hoouse...weedplant some flowers grow some vegies....the list goes on...and on. No time for drugs....nice just to be HIGH on life!! :-)
antiparasite
Friday, October 21, 2011 at 03:06 PM51... Without mushrooms I doubt your cult would be here ;)
GibsonNSW
Friday, October 21, 2011 at 03:28 AMIF...the Scottish government would give Christian Revival a another look, conduct a study then enact the encouragements, they might find that when revival breaks out...the addictions vastly diminish. Crime fades as the people comes to Jesus Christ:)
Tartancult
Thursday, October 20, 2011 at 09:12 PM#24 we still rely on the same old alcohol and tobacco to get through life".............We do?.....Do I need to start smoking to get through life?....If I stop my (moderate) drinking, will I die?.......Rely on?.......You must have been under the various influences when you posted that.
antiparasite
Thursday, October 20, 2011 at 08:49 PM48... Including alcohol, tobacco and caffeine I hope.. Who would supply the NHS with Cannabis? GW pharma would be in competition with people growing it themselves and giving it away to people in need of it...
Doolaly
Thursday, October 20, 2011 at 05:41 PMSell all drugs through the NHS. Drug trade vanishes. Crime stopped in its tracks.
Canny Mann
Thursday, October 20, 2011 at 05:14 PMWar on drugs is a cover story to criminalise the young, to tax the drug peddlers and divide society into those anal enough that they cannot enjoy themselves from those who want a spliff to unwind after the manic pressure exerted onto them by the media and propoganda by a self perpetuating drug squad court officials (to keep it all legal) and back social services to interfere in adult ppls recreation. In a modern age where there are fewer and fewer jobs and more leisure time. Government could easily legalise cannabis, raise a tax on the sale, undermine the illegal drug barons and reduce court time and costs. Bold moves with economic benefits and a population who would agree with a government who brings about a new approach to cannabis which was taken out of the list of mainstream drugs in the 1930s, to promote the use of a man made substitute called Vallium. Mother Earth made Cannabis, Man made booze, who do you trust?
Electric Helmet
Thursday, October 20, 2011 at 05:04 PMElectric Hermit - what a plum!
antiparasite
Thursday, October 20, 2011 at 04:51 PMhttp:cbdcrew.org for the scientists in Scotland that say there in no CBD in weed, the same scientists that are hoovering up patents for synthetic versions while telling people Cannabis is dangerous, all greed :(
antiparasite
Thursday, October 20, 2011 at 04:18 PM'The Union' is a well put together documentry on Cannabis and drug prohibition...
criminalgirl1
Thursday, October 20, 2011 at 04:00 PMMaybe they should legalise drugs, end of.
antiparasite
Thursday, October 20, 2011 at 03:26 PMHow would the alphabet agencies arm 'rebels' when drugs are legalised??
antiparasite
Thursday, October 20, 2011 at 03:23 PM24.. Cannabis a plant that humans have used for thousands of years is pretty safe... Why was it made illegal in the first place????
RobertBurnsOB
Thursday, October 20, 2011 at 02:29 PMWell, please don't think that the "war on drugs" as fought here in the U.S.A. has any lessons beyond that of the "war on alcohol drug" fought in the Era of Prohibition. Legalize, deglamorize, and therapize. The criminal justice system cannot win. I practice law in the "criminal justice" system and I know very well how the war has created and entrenched gangs and cartels whose lifeblood is drugs and drug profits.
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