Hansard

I would have been happy to stay seated and let Kezia Dugdale continue.

The debate has been interesting and consensual. We have heard that we have many more questions and hurdles and that we might not fully realise yet the complexity of what we face.

I was interested to hear Mark McDonald’s speech. He offered the minister some advice, which perhaps had merit.

Kezia Dugdale made the point that the majority of legal highs—new psychoactive substances—that are out there are coming through the internet. Basically, that is what people want and it is how people access such substances. However, we are maybe in danger of stereotyping the users at the moment. I know that surveys have been conducted, but we tend to focus on the young people themselves.

I took part in the debate in November about opioid misuse, in which we looked at how far we had come. We looked at the pathways, the journey and “The Road to Recovery”, and we acknowledged that the numbers are decreasing. However, are they decreasing in that area because we are starting to see an increase in another area? That would be worrying. The worrying thing about the legislative framework is that it cannot work in isolation—it cannot cover just Scotland and the UK. Perhaps it cannot even cover just Europe, as new psychoactive substances are a global problem. Because our young people—I am not sure at what age someone stops being a young person—are mobile, they go on long weekend trips for either hen or stag parties and have holidays in places such as Turkey, where the substances are perhaps more readily available. We must try to ensure that the message gets out there that the substances can be dangerous.

Kezia Dugdale said that the majority of the people who take the substances suffer no ill effects. Regardless of the fact that they do not know what the substances are and the fact that there is nothing on the packet to say whether they should take one or two three times a day, as there is for prescribed drugs, to some extent people enjoy—I use that term very loosely—the fact that they are taking a substance that gives them a high. Personally, I do not understand that and have always found the taking of any drugs, unless they are prescribed drugs, difficult to understand. I have witnessed the impact of people taking drugs, which is death, and I have seen the impact on their families. When we talk about finding solutions, we should be talking about raising awareness.

Many years ago, I was involved in tackling drug, alcohol and solvent misuse among young people. Alex Johnstone made the point that we managed to get around the problem of solvent misuse, but that was because it had very physical signs. The problem that we have with the new substances cannot be resolved in the same way.

The minister said that she has been invited to be part of the Home Office’s review group. I pity the Home Office. I am sure that the minister will make a contribution and ensure that her voice is heard. When we are looking for solutions, we must not be insular but must acknowledge that the new psychoactive substances are a problem not just for Scotland, the UK and Europe, but globally.

How do people become aware of the availability of the substances through the internet and head shops? Kezia Dugdale is right that that happens partly through the social media network. Social media can be used in two ways: to raise awareness of the problems of new psychoactive substances but also to promote them. That is part of the problem that we have in the internet age, and we have seen it happen in other areas—I have spoken before about pro-anorexia websites. We need to get the balance right. Young people use social media, and if we are going to get our message across—as we do in our education system through the curriculum for excellence, which I applaud—we must use all the tools that are available to us, including the ones that our young people will focus on. We must get the message across through social media and through know the score so that people can access, understand and share the information. We can debate the problem here, but I am not sure how many young people listen to what goes on in this chamber.

We need to use the tools that are available to us. I hope that the minister will consider the social media factor in thinking about getting the information out to our young people. There is a huge global problem, and I think that it is beyond what we can measure at the moment. As Claire Baker touched on, we only hear about the people who land up in A and E or in the mortuary. The problem is much bigger and it is beyond the figures that the SDF has provided and perhaps beyond the knowledge of the alcohol and drug partnerships in our communities, but at least we are making a start and there are initiatives out there to try to resolve the problem.

I wish the minister well and I applaud the initiatives that have been taken so far. I sincerely hope that the minister will take on board some of the constructive comments that members have made.