The Scottish Government has announced the final funding from its five-year national mission on drugs. Twenty-eight projects across the country will share £1m administered by grant-making charity the Corra Foundation, it states.
The projects include treatment and health support in Edinburgh and West Dunbartonshire, recovery hubs in Kilmarnock and Forth Valley, homelessness outreach services in Aberdeen, family liaison in the Highlands, a Forth Valley peer harm reduction project, and recovery workshops in Glasgow and Dundee.
‘As the national mission ends next month, we will shortly announce our new alcohol and drugs strategic plan and new support for the third sector,’ said drugs minister Maree Todd. ‘This funding provides a vital bridge to that – where we will again focus on sustained, need-based investment.’
Meanwhile a new briefing on substance misuse in prisons has been published by Scottish Health Action on Alcohol Problems (SHAAP). With more than 60 per cent of people in Scottish prisons having an alcohol use disorder, alcohol is ‘the forgotten crisis for those in the justice system’, it says.
An estimated 5,000 prisoners with alcohol dependence are entering custody each year, the briefing states, with the treatment gap now ‘massive’. Although 40 per cent of prisoners were drunk at the time of their arrest and 41 per cent said they would accept help if it was offered, just one per cent of the prison population were referred to specialist alcohol services in 2024-25. Continuity of care is also inconsistent, it adds, with the risk of death from alcohol-related causes three times higher for men – and nine times higher for women – who have been in prison than for the general population.
‘Alcohol is used as a coping strategy for unresolved trauma and mental ill-health, yet access to talking therapies, peer support and evidence-based treatments remains patchy,’ the report states, with overcrowding, lack of purposeful activity and long periods of lock-up increasing distress and driving substance use. ‘Alcohol harm in Scotland’s prisons is widespread, and people are not receiving enough of the support they need.’
Criminal justice committee inquiry into substance misuse in prisons available here