Scotland’s drug-death shame will get worse before it gets better.
That chilling claim is the reality facing communities up and down the country.
So the importance of a new taskforce convened by the Scottish Government cannot be understated.
And the public health minister’s commitment to put people with real-life experience of drug abuse at its heart is welcome.
It took a long time, but Joe FitzPatrick acknowledges the country cannot act without hearing from those at the sharp end.
Three new members of his taskforce, all with lived experience, will undoubtedly help tackle this scandal.
Yesterday, FitzPatrick drew attention to the Record’s campaign to get people in the same room and face up to a national scandal.
He listened, and clearly wants personal experience to inform policy.
He committed to keeping opposition MSPs up to date with progress and appears determined to tackle the problem.
But it has taken far too long to get to this point. Politicians in Government appear to have had their heads in the sand for years.
It took the horrendous wake-up call of Scotland’s record-breaking drug deaths total to shake people into action.
It will be a long time before any success can be measured but on this evidence, the government are finally listening.
