Scotland's drugs minister Angela Constance believes a clinical overhaul of street drug treatment can help turn around our drug deaths crisis.
The drugs minister is seeking to unclutter the disjointed and inconsistent prescribing policies that many believe have fuelled the current fake Valium epidemic.
The Royal Colleges representing GPs, physicians and psychiatrists will meet in a “Consensus Conference” to nail down best practice for benzos.
Constance said: “We have treatment offers for other substance abuse. We now need to have a treatment offer for benzos.
“The Daily Record pointed out recently that there are many risks to consider with this and it is a complex area.
“But the Scottish drug Deaths Task Force is right now reaching out to the wider clinical community, to galvanise them and bring us to a clearer position, with the consensus we need to make a treatment offer that will make people safer.
“The risk to people’s lives are high so we really need the backing of the clinical community to reduce these risks.
“It’s complex and we won’t get to an idealised position but we must do more clinically to make people safer.”
Two thirds of Scotland’s drug deaths are caused by pills made by Scottish crime gangs, usually mixed with other substances like heroin, methadone, alcohol and prescription pills.
Prescribing policies across Scotland have meant many people with benzodiazepine addictions have been offered no treatment at all.
Constance is now intent in bringing in testing systems for “blue plague” benzos that will help direct more users into treatment.
And she believes a summit to be held by Scottish clinicians on street benzos, which are behind most of our world record drug deaths, can mark a big step forward allowing more prescriptions as they fight their addictions.
