Campaigners have called on the Scottish Government to ensure a new alcohol and drugs strategy is backed by sustained funding and accountability.
Preventing Harm, Promoting Recovery: Scotland’s Alcohol & Drugs Strategic Plan 2026-2035 is a joint plan from the Scottish Government and COSLA (Convention of Scottish Local Authorities) and aims to reduce deaths and harms caused by alcohol and drugs.
Priorities include a renewed focus on prevention, support for residential rehabilitation and improving pathways through detox, crisis care and stabilisation.
Drug and alcohol minister Maree Todd said the plan built on existing work to widen access to treatment and initiatives such as the UK’s first safer drug consumption facility in Glasgow.
‘As we respond to new challenges – including an increasingly toxic drugs supply – this plan refocuses our efforts in a more coordinated and sustainable way,’ the minister said.
‘As a joint Scottish Government and COSLA initiative, this plan will strengthen national and local partnership working so that people can receive the right help when and where they need it.’
Social cost
COSLA health and social care spokesperson councillor Paul Kelly said: ‘Far too many individuals and families continue to be affected by drugs and alcohol harms. We need to do everything we can to support people, which requires us to work across spheres of government.
‘Bringing local and national government together for the first time in this way represents a step change in how we plan and deliver support for people affected by drugs and alcohol.’
Alastair MacGilchrist, chair of SHAAP (and a liver physician), welcomed the plan but stressed the urgent need to act on Scotland’s alcohol problem. ‘With almost one in five Scottish adults showing signs of hazardous or harmful drinking, around 30,000 alcohol-attributable hospital admissions every year, and more than three people dying an avoidable alcohol death every day, the scale of the challenge demands action that matches the rhetoric.
‘We’ll now advocate for accountability – and funding – so that today’s plan is not forgotten about after May’s elections but forms the basis of meaningful and sustained action to address the treatment gap for people struggling with alcohol problems across Scotland.’
Read The Doctor feature about resources for GPs in the fight against alcoholism