SNP and Greens kill addiction recovery bill

Speaking after the SNP and Scottish Greens voted down the Right to Addiction Recovery (Scotland) Bill at stage 1 this evening, Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Alex Cole-Hamilton said:

“This was the last opportunity in this session of Parliament to properly debate legislation that could play its part in stopping people dying from drugs and alcohol misuse.

“Too many people seeking help are still turned away, told to wait, or simply lost in the system.

“While we were sceptical of some of the proposed costings and the risk of creating expectations that current services simply cannot meet, and the lack of provision for harm reduction in the Bill, I would rather have seen Parliament work through these issues and see whether a practical and workable bill could have been crafted.

“Instead the SNP and the Greens have chosen to sell people struggling with drug and alcohol misuse down the river once again.

"With this bill now blocked from proceeding I hope that they will now back Scottish Liberal Democrat proposals for supporting alcohol and drug partnerships, rolling out a nationwide network of safe consumption rooms, new drug checking facilities and giving people who are misusing drugs treatment instead of prison.”