Scotland’s drug death horror an indictment of rotten capitalism

By Lynda McEwan

Figures published this week have identified Scotland as having the highest drug-related deaths in the EU. This may be the latest appalling legacy from the Thatcher government of the 1980s and successive neoliberal Tory and Labour governments.

Over 1,100 people died in 2018, up a massive 27% on the previous year with the vast majority, almost 900, being men over-35.

Labelled the Trainspotting generation after Irvine Welsh’s book and film depicting the chaotic lives of a group of young male drug addicts in the capital city of Edinburgh, many of these men have grown up in households who have never worked.

Born during an economic depression that saw much of British industry privatised and shut down, and most towns decimated by unemployment, drugs have sadly become a way of life for the most disenfranchised in our country.

It’s no coincidence that the highest levels are concentrated in the poorest areas such as Glasgow, Dundee and parts of Lothian and that in comparison more affluent areas such as East Dunbartonshire have the lowest levels. 

Elinor Dickie of Public Health Scotland said that problematic drug use is 17 times higher in Scotland’s poorest areas compared to the wealthiest.

Poverty is the driving force behind most social ills and this sharp rise in drug use and death is no exception.

The Scottish government has taken its usual progressive-appearing stance and has appointed a Drug Death Taskforce which is calling for the introduction of drug consumption facilities based on the Portuguese model of tackling illegal drug use.

Whilst any policy that would reduce these needless deaths is welcome, more must be done to prevent people turning to drugs in the first place.

This is a startling display of hypocrisy from the SNP who were warned by experts in 2016 that the £15 million cuts to drugs services they were implementing would result in this increase in deaths.

They ignored the pleas with then health secretary, Shona Robison, informing drug agencies that already struggling health boards would have to fill this gap in funding.

They also closed needle exchanges in Dundee leaving addicts at risk of infection and all of the complications which arise from sharing needles.

The SNP-led Scottish government has repeatedly delayed taking full responsibility for the welfare system in Scotland meaning vicious Tory policies like universal credit and benefit sanctions continue to push already vulnerable people further into poverty, debt, homelessness and, in many cases, worsening drug use.

Tory, Labour and SNP councils in Scotland have made huge cuts to social work and addiction services over the years. Some areas such as Alexandria in West Dunbartonshire have seen their social work department closed and moved to a neighbouring town, making it almost impossible for addicts to access services. 

The SNP government should use this opportunity to build a mass campaign to fight against the cuts and conditions in society that have fuelled this drug crisis which is ripping the heart out of communities and leaving families devastated.

end austerity

A mass mobilisation linked to the trade unions and working class communities could demand an end to Tory austerity by setting no cuts budgets to win the increased funding needed to tackle not only this immediate problem but to also fund the building of really good council housing, free fully-funded education, provide skilled £10 an hour jobs and overhaul the benefits system to provide fairer and more dignified benefits.

Massive public investment is needed in the NHS and in addiction research also.

All of these measures are urgently necessary to remove the conditions created under capitalism which pushes people into drug use in the first place.

This morning a cross party group of MSP’s from Labour, SNP, the Greens and the Lib Dem’s has been created to tackle the problem. Circulating an online petition they are calling for immediate action, including the decriminalisation of drugs, to save lives.

Decriminalisation might save some lives but without a determined fight against the root causes of drug addiction, combined with compassion led treatment options, Scotland will continue to witness drug related deaths.

The socialist transformation of society, democratically organising the wealth to benefit everyone, is vital to permanently end the cycle of poverty, drugs and death.