Hansard

We live in an increasingly complex world. Global trade and communications have changed so much about the way we live and the nature of the challenges that society has to face, so a response to the growth in the trade and popularity of new psychoactive drugs must address those issues. The combination of legal and illegal substances in new psychoactive substances, the international nature of their production, the fact that sale is on the internet, and the struggle of our knowledge and education to keep pace with growth in availability are all challenges that we face in preparing an appropriate and effective response. The Scottish Drugs Forum briefing states that

“an adequate response will be multifaceted and involve local, national and international initiatives and co-operation.”

This is not an issue that Scotland can address alone.

It is difficult to identify the scale of the problem in Scotland. We have little information on the prevalence of new psychoactive substances, although I recognise the on-going work that the minister outlined in her opening statement.

I recently met Clued Up Project, which is a drug and awareness project in Kirkcaldy that was set up almost 18 years ago. It provides substance misuse support and information to young people under the age of 25, as well as employability services to those over the age of 18. In my discussion with the project about its work, one of the most striking issues was the growth and popularity of legal highs. We discussed the challenge of the growing prominence of new drugs and how organisations such as Clued Up provide services, support and advice. Having worked in alcohol misuse and illegal drug taking for many years, and having, therefore, a lot of knowledge in those areas, I know that the growth of new drugs presents challenges in providing accurate information as well as in identifying appropriate support and health services.

I was interested in the most recent Scottish schools adolescent lifestyle and substance use survey, which suggests that use is not that common among young people and is having little overall impact. That is difficult to establish; this is an area that is developing quickly and the growth in internet sales makes it difficult to establish some figures. Clued Up is carrying out its own survey of young people to try to establish the prevalence of new psychoactive substances in Fife. The survey launched in December and Clued Up has already received more than 200 returns. Initial analysis shows that more 12 to 18-year-olds have heard of what they recognise as legal highs, and have a higher level of knowledge than 19 to 25-year-olds. The problem has the potential to grow, which perhaps gives us an indication of where services need to be focused.

Alcohol and drug partnership budgets are weighted towards pharmacological treatments, with less emphasis on prevention and early intervention work. Although some of the evidence around the use of more commonly problematic illegal drugs suggests that concentrating resources in those areas is appropriate, increasingly evidence is being gathered by those who work in the field that shows that legal highs are a growing problem, in which young people are more engaged and for which they are clearly the target market. That suggests that refocusing of some support services is needed.

Alongside specialist support services, schools play a vital role in educating young people on the issue as well as in supporting young people with the drug issues that they face. We need to reflect on whether there is adequate training and awareness raising among teachers.

We have to ask whether we have appropriate and sufficient services to deal with growing use, and how we should address the perception of acceptability and legitimacy. Figures that Crew 2000 collected over the 2013 festival season suggest that almost 10 per cent of reported drug use was of new drugs. Brighton opened the first legal high clinic to try to raise awareness of the dangers of abusing such substances and to help people to quit their addictions. Leeds now offers a similar service.

From the evidence that was collected by Crew 2000 we see common education challenges. There are difficulties in providing accurate information and advice on new drugs, and there is difficulty in understanding the effects of multiple drug use, in understanding appropriate dosage, and in identifying and addressing dependency issues. The evidence also highlights that new drugs are popular in settings in which there are drug-testing regimes because detection methods cannot keep pace with the production of new substances.

So-called legal highs are just drugs that are not yet regulated by law, often because they are so new that not enough is known about them to decide whether regulation is needed. That makes establishing a public health response to them pretty difficult, but it is important that we challenge the myth that “legal” means safe.

One of the biggest challenges is about how to deal with growth in production and use of new psychoactive substances. To move a substance from a legal class to an illegal class often looks like the solution, but the market is lucrative and innovative. Replacements are soon created, marketed and sold while legislators struggle to keep pace with what is happening. The chemical codes of banned substances can be changed quickly to make them legal again. In 2011, for the third year in a row, a record number of substances—49—were detected for the first time throughout Europe.

The pace of change in, and the variety of, the products means that suppliers maintain the ability to sell them in retail outlets. That is a growth area in Scotland and throughout Europe, as members from Angus highlighted. However, online sales, about which other members spoke, also increase products’ availability and present marketing opportunities that are different from those that are provided by the high street retail sector. In one year, the number of online retailers has doubled to at least 639 online shops.

Online sales are extremely difficult to tackle, and that is not something that the Scottish Government can do alone. We need also to explore how we can close loopholes that allow the products to be sold and marketed in high street shops, particularly in terms of planning and labelling for human consumption. However, online shopping presents a whole other set of challenges, and we should recognise that it is clearly the growth retail area.

The UK Government review is due to report on regulatory and legislative measures in the spring. The continuing culture of and—we must acknowledge it—popularity of illegal drug taking suggest that even if we increase the number of banned substances, the challenges to public health and wellbeing will not go away. Therefore, as a priority, we must support the agencies that work in communities throughout Scotland and which are at the front line of addressing the continuing challenge.