Drug death campaigners have said politicians should stop playing political football and work together to tackle the drug crisis as they are doing to fight Coronavirus.
FAVOR Scotland have said that while tackling coronavirus must be Scotland and the UK’s top priority, politicians must adopt a similar cross-party approach to tackle drug deaths.
This evening, FAVOR will hold their eighth monthly event to highlight that Scotland’s drug deaths have risen to the highest in Europe over the last decade while residential rehabilitation beds have been cut to just 70 across Scotland.
The event will take place on Friday 13th March at Abbeycare’s residential rehabilitation facility in Wishaw.
Annemarie Ward Favor CEO said: “While we totally understand that the focus is rightly on Coronavirus just now, we can’t forget that Scotland has the highest drug deaths in Europe.
“If we saw politicians working together across parties to tackle drugs as they are doing on Coronavirus, the number of drug deaths could be reduced overnight.”
Liam Mehigan, of Abbeycare residential rehabilitation, said: “We are delighted to be able to host the 8th monthly FAVORUK gathering at Abbeycare Scotland.
“We look forward to joining with other residential rehabilitation providers to highlight the efficacy and value of residential rehabilitation in saving and changing lives.”
Karen Biggs, CEO of Phoenix Futures residential rehabilitation, said: “The FAVOR monthly drug death gatherings end that silence, give voice and visibility to recovery, empower people to share their stories, create connection, build motivation and offer possibility. They give hope.
“When we see people recover from their drug use we see a change in behaviour and in physical presence but what we are witnessing is an internal process of coming to terms with pain and hurt and process of healing. For some people a residential rehab programme is the safest most humane and effective way to achieve that healing.”