Scotland's drugs death crisis being 'forgotten' warns charity one year on from Nicola Sturgeon visit

dailyrecord.co.uk:

Scotland's drugs death crisis is being forgotten by politicians with promised action not happening fast enough, a leading charity has warned.A report by Faces and Voices of Recovery (FAVOR) warns there has been little progress towards reducing the number of people losing their lives to substance abuse.The paper will be launched today at Bluevale community centre in Glasgow one year after First Minister Nicola Sturgeon and Scottish Conservative leader Douglas Ross held a meeting at the same venue to discuss the drugs death crisis.FAVOR is calling for the Scottish Government to implement six of its recommendations to improve the current addiction, recovery and treatment system.The report states that people are often waiting years for appointments with recovery services and people seeking treatment are often given no say in their own treatment options.It also criticises the use of "pretend rehab services" and the "postcode lottery" of treatment options available to those suffering addiction.Annemarie Ward, chief executive of FAVOR Scotland, said: "We hoped government investment and the introduction of new guidelines would improve things but unfortunately, the system remains as broken today as it was a year ago."Our report identifies the deep-rooted problems and outlines a series of recommendations to improve how we treat people."It looks like the politicians have forgotten about Scotland's drug death crisis, so we hope our Blueprint to Save Lives will remind them that our communities are still suffering and they still need to act."It comes one year after the one-off meeting which saw the First Minister and the Scots Tory leader visit Bluevale in Glasgow's Haghill district.The joint visit to Bluevale was organised following