Scotland's drugs minister has pledged to treat each overdose death with the same priority as the death of a child.
Angela Constance made the promise as she faced accusations of slowness in the delivery of the National Mission to turn around our disgraceful drug deaths record.
The drugs policy minister was also slammed for failing to meet targets for crucial MAT standards, which underpin the strategies for treating addiction.
Constance, who was announcing new measures to increase accountability for drug policies and treatments, defended the Scottish Government’s record.
She said a major report in the summer will lay down, area by area, exactly how services have performed.
Constance told parliament: “I am determined that we were every lesson from every death so that services are improved to better meet the needs of our citizens to the risk of dying.
“When a child or a vulnerable adult dies, chief officers for public protection plays a key role in ensuring that we were vital lessons from these tragic events.
“And I intend to do what is necessary so that the same chief officers take on a new accountability to ensure that lessons are learned and changes made from the reviews of all drug related deaths.
“Therefore, I will be setting clear expectations to ensure consistency and how these reviews are carried out, as well as issuing guidance and training for all those involved.”
Drug death statistics will also be improved with a £580,000 funding package.
Labour’s health spokesperson Claire Baker said the implementation of MAT standards - which include rights for drug users, like same-day prescriptions - have no chance of being rolled out within a year, as the minister had promised.
Baker said: “That gives me no satisfaction to see that this commitment is heading for failure.
“So will the minister, rather than provide generalised statements, commit to publishing progress standard by standard ADP by ADP to allow for proper scrutiny and accountability?”
Constance said delays were necessary for ensuring quality, adding: “This isn’t a tick box exercise.
“In June with a report that will look at the national picture but it will also cover an area by area. We will be able to report on the progress of each standard.
“But that will also be followed up by a more in-depth report in the summer, which isn’t just looking at whether a standard has been met or not area by area, but it’s looking at the criteria for meeting each of those standards area by area.”
Labour MSP Paul Sweeney, who this week announced a private bill to open Overdose Prevention Centres, said he was “underwhelmed” at Constance’s failure to even mention such facilities in her statement.
The minister said: “The evidence in my view as this has is clear and compelling. And the only debate now is how the it would actually delivered and I’m sure Mr Sweeney is aware that the Scottish Government is leaving no stone unturned right now to deliver clinically and legally safe consumption facilities within our powers.
“And I will continue to pursue that activity within our powers because at the end of the day, I don’t want to be asking the UK government for permission.”
Scotland’s drug deaths were at a record 1,339 last year, the worst, by miles in Europe and 15 times the EU average.
