Scotland has highest drug death rate in EU

[♥ Lily ♥]

Drugs are expensive - so why would some poor people waste their money on drugs and alcohol? Why turn to teenage gangs and knife crime - and use poverty as their lame 'excuse' for stabbing and mugging and murdering people and taking drugs? I don't accept their feeble excuses. People have a choice to not take drugs - no matter how hard life gets and no matter what bad experiences they've had in life. It's a cowards way out to require drugs to cope with life - and a false escape from reality. If anything it will just make their problems worse - and they should know that with all the education about drugs in secondary schools. All the money they spend on drugs and alcohol over several years could be spent on travel and holidays.

What about all the hard working and responsible people who are on a low income and either study hard (despite the very high student fees for English students in the UK - as English university students in the UK have to pay thousands of pounds for their education and end-up with high student fee debts in England,) or those from poor backgrounds who work very hard to improve their situation in life.

There's also drug addicts amongst the wealthy too - especially amongst millionaire rock stars, supermodels, etc. (The difference is that they can afford to fund their habit and fund all their private healthcare costs.)

There's also many poor people who aren't alcoholics and who don't foolishly turn to drugs, and who take responsibility for their decisions, actions, and choices in life. They don't carry a vicitim mentality, but have a self-empowering mentality of taking responsibility and making their own choices.

It's like we hear the same lame excuses whenever crimes are committed ... 'Oh, but he had a really difficult childhood...' 'Oh, but he's from a poor background...' (ad nauseum) to excuse their behaviour. Yeah, lots of people have had difficult childhoods, traumatic experiences, aren't from wealthy backgrounds... but don't go around mugging and stabbing people, nor resort to illegal drugs and alcohol to cope with life.

Blame the government, blame their parents, blame their childhood, blame everyone else... heck, blame the pet cat... except for taking responsibility for their own decisions and choices.

'People don't always have power over the situations and circumstances around them in life;- but people do have power and self-control over how they react to life.' This is a self-empowering statement which helps people to realise the self power in their own hands to make positive decisions in life.

There's free drug rehabilitation and alcoholic help clinics available to people, free prescriptions to help wean them off street drugs, free counselling and therapy sessions, etc - but despite all the free support and help available to addicts - they also need to want to help themselves and have willpower, self-discipline, self respect, and a desire to be strong and break free from drugs.... otherwise they'll either end-up in prison for crimes related to drugs - or will end-up in an early grave. That's the stark reality of going down the road of drugs... but they can change from the self-destructive path they're walking along if they're determined to make the effort.

It's like going to the gym... you've got to stick at it.

[Albannach]

SCOTLAND’S Public Health Minister has said the Home Office is “beneath contempt” after a UK Government minister rejected calls to work together at a summit to reduce drug deaths.

Kit Malthouse, the Minister of State for Crime, Policing and the Fire Service, confirmed in a letter he was “unable to commit” to taking part in such a meeting. Public Health Minister Joe FitzPatrick received the note shortly after updating Holyrood on the work of a new task force the Scottish Government has set up to deal with the problem.

The Scottish Government took action after drugs deaths reached a record high of 1187 in 2018 – up 27% on the previous year.

With the task force to meet for the first time on September 17, FitzPatrick said he would “very much welcome a commitment from the UK Government to work with us”.

Malthouse wrote: “On your request for UK Government ministerial attendance at the proposed summit in Glasgow, unfortunately I am unable to commit to this, however, I wish you well with the event.”

He added: “The Home Secretary and I are nevertheless keen to ensure that the UK Government continues to work together with the Scottish Government at official level to address the challenge of drugs and drug harms.”

Fitzpatrick hit out at the “high-handed arrogance with which the Tories have dismissed all of our requests”.

He added: “The very fact that they deliberately delayed issuing this response until just minutes after MSPs had discussed this matter in Holyrood adds insult to injury.

“How can the Tories seriously say they want to continue to engage on this issue when they won’t even come to meetings? What Scotland faces in terms of drug deaths is an emergency – addressing that will need new approaches even if at first they may be challenging.

“Everyone should be working together on this important issue and if the best the Tories have to offer is half-hearted good wishes then they really are beneath contempt.”

First Minister Nicola Sturgeon pledged an additional £20m to tackle the scourge of drug abuse in her Programme for Government on Tuesday.

The Home Office has already blocked attempts to set up a safe drugs consumption room in Glasgow, with Malthouse saying: “It is important for me to be clear from the outset that the UK Government has no plans to change the law to allow the establishment of such facilities.”

Alison Thewliss, the SNP MP for Glasgow Central, also blasted the response of the UK Government and Home Secretary Priti Patel.

She said: “To continue to dismiss the overwhelming evidence in support of a Supervised Drug Consumption Facility (SDCF) out of hand is appalling.”

https://www.thenational.scot/news/17...it/?ref=twtrec