Aberlour Response to the Right to Addiction Recovery Bill Stage 1 Call for Views

Scotland has the highest rate of drug related deaths in Europe – most recent statistics showing that deaths recorded in 2023 were more than four times higher than in 2000. More than a quarter of drugs deaths in Scotland are women. Scotland’s drugs crisis is underpinned both bythe impact of child poverty, with 1 in 4 children growing up in poverty, and by the impact of trauma and poor mental health, with perinatal mental health concerns affecting 1 in 5 new and expectant mothers. 

Poverty is a key driver of drugs deaths with those from the most deprived areas fifteen times more likely to die as a result of drugs. If we are committed to tackling drugs deaths, then we must be relentless in our drive to combat poverty.

Every year the lives of thousands of children across Scotland are damaged by the impact of alcohol and drugs on families. Children too often end up in care due to the impact of parental substance use. Substance use is a direct risk factor in maternal deaths and women affected by substance use are at significant risk during the perinatal period, including from suicide. Women specific services – both community-based family support and residential rehabilitation and recovery services – are vital to reduce drugs harm affecting women and their children and to tackle the drugs deaths crisis.

Scotland must Keep The Promise for women in recovery and their children by keeping families together. Article 18 of the UNCRC is clear that children and their families have a right to the support they need to bring up their children. This must include supporting families in recovery by providing accessible support both in the community and through residential rehabilitation support services. This requires the necessary investment and resourcing to provide women’s specific services that support families to remain together during treatment and recovery.

Aberlour supports the Scottish Government’s National Mission to reduce drugs deaths and improve lives impacted by drugs. We welcomed the announcement from the Scottish Government of an extra £20 million per year in funding to increase residential rehabilitation facilities across the country. These measures were announced as part of a wider £250 million package over five years, aimed at tackling Scotland’s drug deaths crisis and reducing drugs harm.

Although this commitment to investing in services and supports was for an initial five years, it is clear it will take longer to significantly reverse increasing levels of drug deaths and the underlying causes of drug use in Scotland. We believe this welcome commitment in investment and the necessary resources to effectively tackle drugs deaths and reduce drugs harm must be continued beyond 2026 if Scotland is to achieve its ambition of permanently reducing drugs deaths and the harm caused by drugs and alcohol on children, families and communities across the country.

Read our response to the Scottish Parliament's Health and Social Care Committee's Right to Addiction Recovery Bill Stage One.