In the run-up to the Holyrood elections, reporter Rachel Smart makes a personal call for a change in how we treat drug addiction.
Would decriminalisation allow Scotland to deal better with the problem of drug addiction?
Scotland has had the highest drug death rate in Europe for seven consecutive years. More than 4100 people have lost their lives to drugs since 2001.
In the Highlands there are only a small number of rehabilitation beds, with individuals waiting up to three months for a space in the facility. For some with addiction that length of time is literally a matter of life and death.
For whoever is due to come into power in Holyrood in May, I believe that focusing on lowering the number of drug and alcohol deaths should be a priority for them.
It does not only affect the individual, but the families and friends of those who are suffering, or those who have sadly lost their life.
Individuals right now have to travel from across the Highlands to receive rehabilitation in Inverness – just like so many of our healthcare services.
No one in the central belt expects to travel for hours for healthcare, so why should people in the Highlands have to?
The Scottish Drugs Forum has released a manifesto for the incoming government, calling for it to “be bold, decriminalise people”.
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As a court reporter, day in and day out I see many in the dock who are suffering from addiction, which I believe is a health condition. They need help, not criminalisation. With proper help, some of these individuals would no longer be caught in the revolving door of the justice system.
I don’t think anyone chooses to be an addict. I didn’t. I’m grateful every day that I was able to stop using, but it wasn’t easy. I could say that it was the hardest thing I’ve done in my life, but actually the hardest thing was when I was using, and asking doctors and counsellors what to do – and no one could help me. I lived with a constant fear of being found out as, although I was “functioning” – working and studying – everything around me felt like it was going to collapse at any moment.
I found hope in recovery rooms where people with a lived experience understood what I was going through. But I know for many, that rehab is necessary: a bed and a space and a chance to stop is necessary. I believe that if we opened up more rehab centres within Scotland, providing people the chance to find a way out, we would drastically reduce our prison population.
Individuals with a lived experience of addiction also need to be part of the decision-making process – people who understand what it is like to be in the shoes of those going through it.
There needs to be a radical shift in attitude around how we treat people with addiction. Desperate people take desperate actions. Imagine if we took that pressure away? That we provided compassion and care and resources where it was needed.
We could alter generations – because addiction can be generational.
When people try drugs and alcohol for the first time, they don’t know they are going to become addicted. And it can happen to anyone.
Scotland shouldn’t be an international headline for drugs deaths.
We should be leading the charge in compassion, help and a societal shift towards how we speak about and treat addiction.
So, dear candidate: how are you going to ensure that the Highlands receives more rehab beds and better facilities for those facing addiction?
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