A West Lothian man has spoken of feeling “alone” as he fought to find help for a family member dealing with drug addiction.
Colin Hutcheon (69) represented families of people dealing with addiction as a close family member of his was involved in substance misuse.
It comes as official figures revealing the number of people to die from drugs in Scotland over the last year were published today.
The number of people dying from drugs in Scotland has rocketed over the last 15 years with the country having the highest proportion of such fatalities in western Europe as a result.
Although today’s figures have shown a small decrease in drug deaths.
Some 1,330 people lost their lives to drug misuse in Scotland in 2021, according to latest figures published by National Records of Scotland.
The number is one per cent lower than 2020 which makes it the first year since 2013 in which drug misuse deaths have not increased. However, it is still the second highest annual total on record.
Mr Hutcheon said he “felt very alone” in dealing with the issue until he spoke a support group. He is now chair of Scottish Families Affected by Alcohol and Drugs.
Last week members of Scotland’s drug deaths taskforce say they were hopeful their report will bring about change in the country’s ongoing crisis.
Some members of the 15-person independent taskforce represented people with “lived experience” of addiction in the group’s discussions.
Last Thursday, the taskforce released its final report, the result of three years of work on how to tackle Scotland’s soaring rates of drug deaths.
Discussing the taskforce’s report, Colin said “It does make me hopeful.
“If all the recommendations are implemented things will change for the better.”
He said the report could be a “turning point for families”, adding: “It’s really important that services do recognise the needs of families in their own right, but also the role that they can play in supporting their loved ones and keeping them alive.”
Mr Hutcheon said families sometimes felt “invisible” to those who were providing services to drug users, something he said there was no longer any excuse for.
The stigma around drug use was one of the biggest problems, he said, as families often felt “embarrassed and ashamed” to seek help.
Angela Constance, MSP for Almond Valley and Scotland’s drugs policy minister, said the Scottish Government would consider all of the recommendations set out in the report.
“I welcome this final report from the Drug Deaths Taskforce and I want to thank the chair David Strang, vice-chair Fiona McQueen and every single member for their considerable commitment to producing these recommendations all of which we will consider in detail and respond to in due course.
“The Taskforce was established to provide expert advice on the emergency response to rising drug-related deaths in Scotland.
“Many of the recommendations proposed in previous reports have already been implemented including measures to mitigate the impact of the pandemic and the expansion of the police naloxone pilot. “Others, such as safer drug consumption facilities, drug checking facilities, ending Friday liberations and Medication Assisted Treatment (MAT) standards, are already being progressed.”
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