Those with “lived experience” of drugs often feel cast aside by policy makers as one disastrous government response runs into another.
As Scotland seeks to dig itself out of a mire that sees us tagged as the Task force to fight drugs death epidemic as Daily Record sparks Scottish Government into action for drug deaths, new approaches are being put forward. On Monday, eight people with experience of
drug problems will give evidence to Westminster’s Scottish Affairs Committee in Edinburgh.
One witness, Fiona Gilbertson, tells here how her Recovering Justice group has given voice to people who have lived through drug addiction. Fiona, like most of the other witnesses, believes that the criminalisation of people who use drugs is inhumane, ineffective and costly. She argues for new approaches...
I am a former problematic drug user. Most people I knew didn’t make it.
Before their deaths, they were arrested more times than they were offered help and spent more time in prison than rehab or recovery.
They had their children removed, sometimes for nothing more than a failed drug test and being in the
wrong postcode.
They were stigmatised and shamed and told there was no funding when they asked for help. They died from preventable diseases, preventable drug poisonings, violence and suicide.
Those who did survive are often scared to talk openly about their drug use. I now have a level of privilege
that allows me to speak publicly – I have no children who could be removed and I am not homeless or living in a deprived area, so I am unlikely to be targeted for drug use.
The drug war was at its height in the 80s. I was an intravenous heroin user back then. Drugs were public enemy No1 and the “Just Say No” campaign was in full swing.
Police in Edinburgh took a hardline approach. They threatened every chemist who was selling injecting
equipment with closure and arrest.
The law was interpreted in such a way that having a syringe could incur a three-month jail term. Policy was focused on eradicating drug users, rather than drugs.
This drove people underground, creating environments where one needle would be shared with dozens
of users.
Edinburgh became known as the AIDS capital of Europe. Up to 60 per cent of the drug-injecting community contracted HIV. In Glasgow, which had adopted a harm-reduction approach, the figure was zero per cent.
Ninety per cent of people who try drugs will not develop a problem. I am one of the 10 per cent. For me,
drugs were always going to have consequences.
But HIV, a criminal record and trauma from police violence are consequences of policy, not drug use.
My friends who died in their 20s in Edinburgh died of AIDS. They died as a direct consequence of policy driven by fear and ignorance.
Task force to fight drugs death epidemic as Daily Record sparks Scottish Government into action
More than 25 years after Edinburgh was declared the AIDS capital of Europe, Scotland is now the drug death capital of Europe.
Two years ago, there was an HIV epidemic in Glasgow among people who have no homes.
If this war was going to be ended on evidence alone, it would have been over a long time ago.
Like every other social justice issue, the stories of people most affected will be key to changing public
perception and we need to listen before we lose another generation.
We are fighting a war on Task force to fight drugs death epidemic as Daily Record sparks Scottish Government into action that is a war on people who use drugs, their families and communities.
The most economically and socially vulnerable Scots are dying unnecessarily. If Scotland is to continue as a just and inclusive society, we need to dismantle policy that is unfair.
We must declare a public health emergency, disregard the unfit-for-purpose Misuse of Drugs Act and draft new policy fit for our country and all its citizens.
● For more information, see recoveringjustice.org.uk
