Scotland's drugs minister will today be urged to get a tighter grip on money being channelled to drugs programmes.
Angela Constance will be among guests at the FAVOR Scotland charity’s recovery conference, which aims at “putting Scotland’s drug death crisis back on the agenda.”
The Recovery Rising event in Glasgow will lay down FAVOR’s damning findings from a six-month report which claims many services are inaccessible to the public and that pathways into rehab are being restricted.
It will also highlight how grassroots bodies feel they have been short-changed in recent funding awards despite the Scottish Government has pledged £250 million over five years
Annemarie Ward, CEO of Favor UK, said: “We hope to put Scotland’s drug death crisis back on the agenda at our conference this weekend.
“In the middle of a cost of living crisis, it’s essential that Scotland’s politicians don’t forget that more than a thousands people are dying in this country every year from drug addiction and most of the people who die come from our poorest communities and will be hit far harder than everyone else.
“The Auditor General recently pointed out the flaws in Scotland’s drug addiction treatment system, including problems identifying where the money is going and what value the current investments are delivering.
“When even the Auditor General can’t identify where this funding is going, we surely have to ask ourselves if it’s time to do things differently and bring in different organisations to provide leadership and better support for people and families who are suffering.”
Ward said the conference would act as living proof that rehab works - despite recent comments by former Drug Deaths Taskforce chair Professor Catriona Matheson.
She added: “Many delegates will agree that the cash for drugs programmes was meant to help grass roots organisations do more work in communities.
“But what we have seen is a huge number of awards to the usual suspects.
“It has been demoralising for genuine grass roots bodies to see well funded organisations like Scottish Drugs Forum and a few others advertising for vacancies in positions that grasroots bodies have already been running on a shoestring.
“The grassroots groups have not been given the support they were promised and that is something we would wish to discuss with Angela Constance.”
•The conference, free to enter and open to all, is at the Methodist Church at Woodlands Methodist Church in Glasgow on Saturday from 1pm.
