WithYou has published a manifesto setting out six key priorities for drug and alcohol treatment ahead of the Scottish Parliament elections in May.
The next Scottish Government must agree on a long-term plan beyond the national mission on drugs, which ends this month, as well as ‘put people first by embedding rights and challenging stigma’, the charity states.
It is also vital that the government deliver a dedicated alcohol strategy for the country, establish ‘clear outcomes and accountability’ across all services, expand harm reduction, and ensure that services are ‘accessible and consistently available’. The final funding for the five-year national mission was announced by the government last month. ‘With elections in May, every party must commit to evidence-based policy, sustained investment, and the courage to close the gap between policy and practice,’ says WithYou.
A 2024 report from Audit Scotland found that while the Scottish Government had ‘made headway’ in implementing treatment standards and increasing residential capacity it had been ‘slow to progress’ key national strategies like a workforce plan or reforming alcohol marketing, adding that the country’s ongoing drug death crisis had shifted attention away from alcohol harm. A previous report from the auditing body found that delivery of drug and alcohol services in the country was overly complex, with lines of accountability ‘not always clear’.
Drug deaths are up to 12 times higher in Scotland’s most deprived communities, WithYou points out, with alcohol deaths more than four times higher –  inequalities that would not be solved by ‘treatment alone’. The next government needs to ‘invest in prevention, addressing poverty, trauma and exclusion before they drive harmful use’, it says.
The charity supports more than 14,000 people across the country with drug and alcohol issues. ‘We see their courage. We see what’s possible when the right support is there. And we see what happens when it isn’t,’ said the charity’s director for Scotland, Louise Stewart.
Priorities for the next Scottish Government available here