SNP Health Secretary urged to make statement to Parliament on Scotland's drug deaths emergency

dailyrecord.co.uk:

Scotland's Health Secretary has been urged to make a statement to Parliament on efforts to tackle the country's drug deaths emergency.It was revealed yesterday that almost 1,200 Scots died from drugs last year - a rise of 12 per cent on the previous year - despite repeated pledges from SNP ministers to tackle the shameful record.

Scotland's drug deaths rate is twice that of the rest of the UK and is the highest in Europe.Alex Cole-Hamilton, leader of the Scottish Lib Dems, has now written to Neil Gray to demand the Health Secretary announces fresh measures in a statement at Holyrood."Over the last decade, drug deaths in Scotland have more than doubled, meaning the toll is many times worse than anywhere else in Europe," the MSP said."I and many others struggle to understand why earlier this year the Scottish Government saw fit to freeze the funding for drug and alcohol policy – a real-terms cut to the budget for critical services.

We know the harm that was done when Nicola Sturgeon’s administration cut the funding for drug and alcohol services by 22 per cent."In the current financial circumstances, I worry that lifeline drugs services could suffer further cuts that impact on their ability to provide critical support to those who need it."I am therefore writing to ask if the Scottish Government will make a statement to MSPs to set out further steps that will help stop people dying?

This should be done as soon as Parliament returns from summer recess."It is essential that SNP ministers set out how they intend to provide frontline services with the resources they need to tackle this emergency.