Opposition parties have called for a significant increase in addiction funding in Scotland after it emerged that more than 1,500 drug-addicted babies have been born in recent years.
The Scottish Liberal Democrats said data from the country’s health boards showed that around 200 babies were born each year with neonatal abstinence syndrome (NAS), a sign their mother was taking addictive drugs or abusing alcohol during pregnancy.
Alex Cole-Hamilton, the Scottish Lib Dem leader, has urged John Swinney, the first minister, to spend more on tackling drug addiction in the new budget or risk losing his party’s support.
Swinney’s minority government needs votes from at least one opposition party to get its budget passed but its draft plans imply standstill spending on drug and alcohol rehabilitation and support. Scottish Labour has endorsed Cole-Hamilton’s demand.
“There is perhaps no worse start in life for a newborn baby than to be born dependent on drugs,” Cole-Hamilton said.
“The Scottish government regularly make the headlines for their mishandling of drug deaths but in a host of other ways drug misuse can make lives a misery.
“Nicola Sturgeon [a previous first minister] cut the budget for drug and alcohol services and predictably this meant some services closing their doors and valuable expertise being lost. The current budget proposed by John Swinney risks making the same mistake again.”
Scotland has long had the highest per capita drug deaths in Europe, with 1,172 people dying in 2023; various opioid drugs were implicated in about 80% of those deaths and cocaine in about 40%.
Ministers have repeatedly pledged to reduce that number but have failed to make significant headway. Although the death rate fell in 2022, a drop of 279 on 2021, it was still 2.9 times higher than for the UK as a whole.
NHS data showed there were at least 1,501 NAS births in the 2017-18 financial year to date. Some health boards recorded no NAS cases at all, while others were unable to provide complete figures.
The draft budget shows spending on alcohol and drug policy will rise at a lower rate than inflation, from £80.4m to £80.9m. Scottish ministers have said they will spend £112m on alcohol and drug partnerships but implied that was a standstill budget.
Neil Gray, the Scottish health secretary, said: “No newborn baby should be born dependent on substances and mothers should be able to get the help they need, free from judgment and stigma.
“We want every person experiencing harm from alcohol or drug use to be able to access the support they need and record levels of funding have been protected in next year’s budget.”
