Meeting of the Parliament 09 October 2025
As I said, I am confident that everyone in this chamber shares the ambition to tackle drug and alcohol deaths in this country, and I am more than willing to work with members and with Opposition parties on the issues.
Our new drug and alcohol strategic plan will embed the human rights-based approach that is outlined in the charter of rights published in December 2024. However, in contrast to what is proposed in the bill, it will do so in a way that is deliverable, adaptable and already aligned with existing policies and approaches, and that, crucially, has broad support from partners.
Over the summer, we engaged widely with service commissioners, delivery partners and representative groups and with people with lived and living experience. We have developed a suite of non-legislative measures that go further than the bill in improving access and quality. We will further improve treatment standards through a national service specification, to set expectations for rights-based services and for the expansion of MAT standards to cover all drugs and alcohol. We are continuing our commitment to residential rehabilitation and we are focusing on improving pathways for individuals. We will soon publish new standards for young people who are accessing treatment or support, and we will embed the whole-system approach by including mental health substance use protocols and renewed prevention efforts.
We are working across justice and homelessness services, and we recognise that tackling stigma is essential to enabling people to seek help without fear or shame. We are developing a new fund for grass-roots and community projects, building on the success of the Corra Foundation drugs mission fund, which supported more than 300 projects, and we will strengthen local accountability through a partnership delivery framework with the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities and continued annual reporting and monitoring.
Taken together, those actions reflect a rights-based, person-centred approach to recovery that is already being embedded in funding criteria and service design.
I will finish by saying that recovery is not only about clinical treatment; it is about housing, employment and healthcare. It is about strengthening families and communities and, above all, it is about restoring hope and connection to those who have lost both. Any legislative change must be part of a wider holistic and properly resourced response. Treatment is not just about diagnosis. Recovery is not just about abstinence, and it is not linear. It is not just about whether a person is using substances. It is about restoring hope and dignity and building relationships, and it is about empowering people to control their own destinies.