A leading figure in West Dunbartonshire’s fight against drugs has told how a vital project is in danger of closure - as figures reveal deaths from substance abuse have rocketed in 10 years.
Donnie McGilveray says the future of the successful Safe As Houses Project, run by Dumbarton-based agency Alternatives is very doubtful.
The facility, modelled on a therapeutic community, helps those with addictions from “crisis” to sobriety and has earned praise from the Scottish Government’s Minister for Drug Policy, Angela Constance.
More than half of the staff employed by the service, which has a 16 bed base as well as 11 standalone flats have come through its’ doors as clients.
But funding for the initiative, which has helped more than 400 West Dunbartonshire residents since it opened its doors, is lacking.
The success is now in jeopardy as the project - which survived on Lottery backing as well as housing benefit payments for clients - could not take on new clients during the pandemic and has yet to secure suitable funding.
This comes as new figures reveal 29 local people lost their lives to drugs in 2020 - up from 18 in 2010.
There was a shocking record of 32 deaths in 2019.
Figures also show that the numbers of women dying of drug-related causes has more than doubled in a decade - with four female deaths in 2010, rising to 10 in 2020.
And 19 men died in 2020, up from 14 a decade before.
The area is well above the Scottish average of 20.6 deaths per 100,000 population - with a figure of 24.5 between 2016 and 2020 - and lethal cocktails of powerful drugs including opiates and “street” valium are said to be contributing to the rise.
Gutted Donnie, manager of the Alternatives agency, said: “We are members of the Alcohol and Drug Partnership and the ADP have released a statement on drugs deaths, which we have broadly endorsed.
“However, our divergence is in relation to residential rehabilitation, our own rescheduled rehabilitation project, which has been running for over seven years and supported more than 400 people in West Dunbartonshire, is in danger of closing through lack of funding.”
He added: “We are determined to keep this very, very vital asset in West Dunbartonshire, but there are clear anxieties over future viability in the next two years.”
He told how the initiative has often helped clients referred by West Dunbartonshire Council’s addiction services team, including “people in crisis” and told how they had also helped: “People in crisis, people literally at deaths’ door”.
Safe as Houses performs “crisis stabilisation” services, where drug users can also see others become stable and eventually move onto one of the project’s flats in the area.
Adds Donnie: “People become abstinent and we then get them onto working with the social enterprises we have, such as Knowetop and Skylark.
“At least half of our staff have come through the project and it’s that link to lived experience that has been a driver to others on their recovery journey.”
Donnie said: “The joy in witnessing someone who moves onto a positive journey back in their community is what energises staff particularly in these dark times.”
