Why does Scotland have such a massive drugs problem?

[TheTallOakTrees]

3 people die in Scotland every day due to drugs year.
The worse place in Europe.
Why?

Methadone is the cheapest but not the best drug to treat addiction.
Alcohol is a massive problem.
Long Winter nights.
Not enough (are there any) early intervention programmes.

Also, sitting on your arse complaining about things that are going wrong rather than getting up and doing something about it. It's always someone else's problem.

I am for legalising drugs with specialised dedicated clinic, which in my opinion will help reduce the need for drug dealers. It is no good drs suddenly stopping prescribed mediation such as opioids as it just drives people underground to find alternative ways of obtain it.

@Butterflymosaic

Unlike the rest of the EU there is a stiff NO to any investment into safe spaces for addicts to inject, where they would have care in case of overdose. Scotland has tried to push for a change of policy before, but I recall it’s due to wider UK policy.

Scotland has its own healthcare system. Don't blame the Uk government.

A few years back Scotland was going to treat drug taking as a health and welfare issue not a criminal one. Seems to have worsened the problem.

It's a really complicated issue. Lots of valid points have been made. All over Scotland there are pockets of families several generations down the addiction (whatever form it takes) route. As has been said, the oil boom was a dream for the country. It was also an "in" for the drugs trade. For example, Glasgow criminal entrepreneurs using the north east fishing fleet to bring in consignments of drugs to sell to folks found themselves really flush with cash. That was one thing that wasn't nipped in the bud quickly enough. It's a sad state of affairs.

[quote PicsInRed]www.itv.com/news/2021-07-30/sometimes-i-hope-i-dont-wake-up-the-drug-user-who-started-heroin-aged-11[/quote]
That was heartbreaking to watch.

Cheryl looks a good 25 years older than her actual age and the mum going to see her son every night is so sad.

@Learningatmyownpace

Methadone is the cheapest but not the best drug to treat addiction. Alcohol is a massive problem. Long Winter nights. Not enough (are there any) early intervention programmes.

Methadone absolutely has its place in the treatment of addiction. In many cases it is the best medication for it. It is well evidenced as reducing the rates of drug related death. There are absolutely issues in many areas of how it is dispensed and of drug services not prescribing appropriately but that’s just throwing the baby out with the bath water. Almost all of my clients who have achieved 1 year plus of sobriety used methadone as part of their journey it just gets a really bad rep which then doesn’t help as people either sit on a dose that is too low to really be helpful or rush off it before being ready.

Peoniesandpeaches
Methadone absolutely has its place in the treatment of addiction. In many cases it is the best medication for it.

My dd was on a methadone program for YEARS. She used to sell her methadone to buy drugs.

My job involves a lot of work with drug users and I think even amongst the older people a lot of the time they just don’t know what to do with themselves when they are ‘straight . There’s initiatives to help recovery such as providing free leisure facilities such as gyms ,peer support groups and opportunities to become peer mentors and it’s usually the older people who may have been using drugs since the 90s who want to take these up . Younger people I think tend to be taking drugs for so many reasons but lack the insight into the consequences of taking drugs . So many times I have sat and warned young men and women about dodgy batches going around which are killing even people who have a lifetime of substance use but they think they are invincible. Another issue is that many users will clean up in prison and be doing okay but then on the outside they meet up with old friends and acquaintances who either tempt them into taking again or they might get released and face a set back (e.g a woman might think she will have access to her children again if they are in care and this is refused ) they buy drugs but because they haven’t taken anything so long the effects of what they take can be catastrophic.
A lot of work has been done to say that some people use substances to block out past trauma however in my experience a great many people just start off looking for something to pass the time or forget about how dull life is and end up hooked . I’m not an SNP fan but in some ways I think lockdown hasn’t really helped over the last year as there had been so many services not able to provide the same activities and support and people who are bored already might be so bored they go back onto substances . These are my experiences anyway I don’t pretend to know the way forward .

Methadone worked for me but the doses are to small and the waiting times/over-regulation is a piss take. 4 weeks i had to wait. Most other junkies dont like it and havnt had its potential explained. You can forget about subotex. Great in theory, shite in practice

The SNP has cut funding to to Local
Authorities who support the most vulnerable, like addicts, children in care, fragile elderly.

Instead the SNP spent money handing out vote winning freebies for those who can afford it like free prescriptions, free school meals for wealthy families, free uni tuition regardless of your wealth etc.

Then the SNP blame Westminster for any negative impact but take the credit for the freebies.

Short term rehab also pointless, i quit heroin, drinking and occasional crack by working at it for years in my everyday environment and had to cut out all using friends. And yes boredom is a huge problem that isnt solved automatically by work. People get bored and want to use at work.

@ParkheadParadise

Peoniesandpeaches Methadone absolutely has its place in the treatment of addiction. In many cases it is the best medication for it.

My dd was on a methadone program for YEARS. She used to sell her methadone to buy drugs.

That is precisely what I mentioned in my post about some areas not controlling it appropriately. For people like your daughter they shouldn’t be getting doses away with them. There’s also other medications that can be used and I’m not saying everyone should be on that but it is a drug that we know works well for most especially when prescribed appropriately.

I remember a post on another thread - describing people spending their time squabbling with neighbours, gossiping, moaning, drinking - no hobbies, interests, pastimes. Their problems all blamed on someone else. Not sure how to change that. Through a good education system but it is underfunded where I live.

@AbsolutelyPatsy

addiction is actually genetic, if you have an addictive personality it is likely your offspring will be the same, you are addicted to alcohol/drugs your family grow up a) thinking being pished is the norm and even if you are no long in that family, it is genetic.

That could be the back blurb for a book on Eugenics ...

@BrozTito I noticed that bit of her tweet as well. It reads as 'well we're trying but we can't really do anything'.
Drug laws do require a massive overhaul, this 'war on drugs' is causing death all over the world from manufacture to user.
I don't think that the answer lies in cutting off the supply as this just leads to addicts engaging in much more risky behaviour. Imagine, an addict goes to a dealer for heroin (a substance that they've been using for years and they know how to keep themselves relatively safe) but the dealer has no heroin, because their supplier got busted. But they can sell you some fentanyl, some crack, some meth. Addict has no idea about the potency, but addicts are desperate so they take it, overdose and die.

I remember hearing many years ago that that is how the sellers work (this was fishing townin NE) - bring in cheap something eg cannabis, getpeople on to it, supply supposedly dries up , but here we have some heroin instead.
I feel some education at school might work - look kids, this is why drug dealers drive Lamborghinis, mugs keep buying their stuff. They might become dealers rather than usrs

@BrozTito

Methadone worked for me but the doses are to small and the waiting times/over-regulation is a piss take. 4 weeks i had to wait. Most other junkies dont like it and havnt had its potential explained. You can forget about subotex. Great in theory, shite in practice

May I ask why you originally started taking drugs and how long before you quit.

I dont actually know why i started, but i can say the only thing ive ever loved is opiates and it met every need i had. I got addicted at work eventually using to get through brutal shifts. Started at 16 stopped around 30. I still love it but i can live without it now.

@GintyMcGinty

The SNP has cut funding to to Local Authorities who support the most vulnerable, like addicts, children in care, fragile elderly.

Instead the SNP spent money handing out vote winning freebies for those who can afford it like free prescriptions, free school meals for wealthy families, free uni tuition regardless of your wealth etc.

Then the SNP blame Westminster for any negative impact but take the credit for the freebies.

So true Add to that list free baby boxes, I know many families who certainly do not need a free baby box, yet they waste money on vote catchers.

You also become fixated on the using routine. I use to score then when i got back to my room to use id be shaking and sweating from anticipation, a really weird physical reaction. I know some people inject just water.

It also has a massive impact on all the families of drug users.
My family was destroyed by my dd's drug addiction.
She went from a happy healthy 19-year-old at university to a drug-dependent stranger.

I know a GP in Scotland. He had said in the area he worked in it was so easy to find drugs, people live close to each other and all know which of their neighbours to get stuff from.
I suspect alcohol is the route of it all though. So many members of DHs family are functioning alcoholics. The obsession with alcohol over takes everything and not to drink whenever the opportunity presents itself is considered weird. No one in his family lives to a good age. Lots of them are in such poor health from their 50s.

@Westchesterarms

I'm English and I love going to Scotland. Drugs are not a problem that's in your face wherever you go so I don't understand why anyone would be worried about going there.

But I don't understand why to some people every problem Scotland has is because of England (I doubt those that are using rest of UK are actually referring to Wales or NI), but everything good in Scotland is because of Scotland. I mean, Scotland has been responsible for its own health care for over 21 years and the SNP has been in control for 10 years. When are you going to hold your own govt responsible?

Agree with this.

I am Scottish and was born and lived in Scotland. I live in England now. I never understand the "blame England for every problem" attitude.

Could anyone explain to us all why England is to blame for Scotland's current drug use? With actual logic involved, not just random "we're currently subjugated" claims?

parkhead so sorry to hear this, it must be horrific to go through this with your daughter.