Press Release
29th September 2000
£100 million anti-drug package, welcomed by MSP
A £100 million package of measures aimed at breaking the cycle of drug offending, unveiled by the Scottish Executive today, has been welcomed by MSP for Greenock & Inverclyde, Duncan McNeil.
Deputy justice minister, Angus MacKay, says the money, which will be spent over the next three years, would be used to fund a variety of initiatives aimed at reducing the problem.
He described the scheme as the biggest ever anti-drugs initiative in Scotland.
Speaking at the executive's international drug conference in Edinburgh, he said that £94 million of the total was completely new and additional funding while the outstanding £6 million had been announced previously.
The money will help fund better youth work with young people, educate them about the dangers of drugs and pay for a massive expansion in treatment and rehabilitation facilities as well as new drugs schemes for courts and better facilities for prisons.
And for the first time there will be a concerted drive to give ex-users the skills they need to stay off drugs and eventually find jobs.
Mr MacKay said: "We are all involved in drugs. Even if you don't know one of the 340 who died last year through drug misuse, or if you don't know any of Scotland's estimated 30,000 problem drug users, the fact is that we all live in communities where crime is committed to feed habits and where young people are offered drugs.
"But we shouldn't let grim realities scare us. For too long action on drugs has been split, between those who demand effective enforcement, and those who want to concentrate our resources only on treatment and rehabilitation.
"We can do both, delivering a balanced strategy to cut both the supply and the demand for drugs."
Mr MacKay added that while the investment was large, the potential rewards for society were also great. He said fewer drugs on Scotland's streets, a fall in associated crime as well as a reduction in drug related deaths and harm caused by drug misuse were all laudable aims.
ENDS
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