 The next item of business is a statement by Elena Whitham on drug deaths. The minister will take questions at the end of her statement and so there should be no interventions or interruptions. I call on Elena Whitham up to 10 minutes, please minister. Thank you, Presiding Officer. Last month saw the publication of the drug related deaths statistics from the national records of Scotland, which confirmed that we lost 1,051 fellow citizens to drugs in 2022. Every person lost is a tragedy and one that is felt keenly by families and communities right across Scotland. I want to send my condolences to each and every person affected by a loss from drug use. Deaths which are as preventable as they are unnecessary and the collective loss of all of that talent and potential from across the country is heartbreaking. The figures from NRS show a decline in the number of deaths in 2022, a reduction of £279 from the previous year, the largest on-year decline on record. While that is of course welcome, those numbers are still far too high and we remain committed to delivering our national mission to ensure that we continue to see further reductions in those tragic deaths. Most of the decrease was seen in males with a reduction of 26 per cent from 2021 down to 692 deaths and the number of female deaths was down 10 per cent on the previous year. That further reinforces the need for us to deliver on those initiatives, which will be of benefit to women, though recognising that men remain at the highest risk of a drug's death. It is also encouraging to see drops in nearly all age groups. Deaths in the under-25s fell slightly, but the greatest reduction were in those age groups 25 to 39, which all reduced by over a third. The only group where there was a rise in deaths was in the over-55s, where there was an increase of 8 from 2021. As in previous years, the majority of deaths involved more than one drug use, with an average of three substances implicated or present in a death, highlighting that poly drug use continues to be a significant challenge for us to tackle. Opioids were the most commonly implicated drug, although again there was a slight reduction to 867 deaths. Deaths from benzodiazepines also remain high. They were implicated in 57 per cent of deaths, although the prevalence of street benzodiazepine remains a real concern with them being implicated in nearly half of all drugs deaths. Deaths involving cocaine reduced from 403 in 2021 to 371 in 2022, but make up an increasing proportion of drug-related deaths. The implications of that make clear the need for more support availability for people with problem cocaine use, and I will be following up with local areas to understand what provision is currently available and planned in this area. Two thirds of Scottish Council areas saw a fall in deaths, but there is so much more to do. However, I am clear that buy-in and accountability for implementing the national mission locally is a fundamental requirement for seeing progress across the whole country. Since taking up the portfolio, I have visited many parts of the country, seen the recovery and treatment services in operation and spoken to people who are benefiting from some of the transformational changes that have already taken place as a result of the national mission. I believe that the tireless effort of those on the front line that they continue to put in has contributed to the reduction in drug-related deaths in 2022, and I would like to thank every single one of them for their on-going commitment to that work. I also include all the families on the front line here to ICU. However, I am in no way complacent about the work that is still to be done, and this is borne out by the suspected drug deaths figures for the first half of 2022 published this morning. Those figures indicate that there were 600 suspected drug deaths between January and June 2023 and an increase of 38 on the same period in 2022. We need to be doing all that we can to try and continue to decrease the deaths that we have seen in 2022. Complex problems require multiple solutions, and all of them are valid. That means continuing our work to deliver our match standards, continuing our work to increase treatment options, including residential rehab, but also continuing in our efforts to push harm reduction initiatives. Yesterday, the Lord Advocate set out her position in relation to the proposal for a safer drug consumption facility in Glasgow. The Lord Advocate stated that if Glasgow authorities were to open a pilot facility, the Lord Advocate would be prepared to issue a statement of prosecution policy to the effect that it would not be in the public interest to prosecute people for possession of illegal drugs within the confines of that facility. It is the position that I strongly welcome. Although the position of the Lord Advocate does not sanction or approve the establishment of a safer consumption facility, it provides a necessary assurance to Glasgow authorities who will now take their proposal to the integrated joint board for approval. Although there are still limitations around what a facility operating within an existing legislation could do, that is fantastic news and represents a real step forward in establishing the first official safer drug consumption facility in the UK. We have been clear in our commitment to establishing a safer drug consumption facility. The evidence supporting it around the world is extensive, with 16 countries with legal and operational drug consumption rooms in 2022. Following the position from the Lord Advocate, we will now work closely with colleagues in Glasgow to agree next steps and review options around implementation, including funding. That is a significant step forward for us in Scotland. However, even with this helpful position from the Lord Advocate, a safer drug consumption facility operating in Scotland will still be restricted by the misuse of drugs act. Therefore, the best approach would be for the UK Government to give us approval for a safer drug consumption facility, so I would again repeat my call to the UK Government to work with us on this issue and either give us that approval for a pilot or devolve the necessary powers to us. The recess period also saw the publication of the alcohol specific death stats from NRS, which recorded that there has been a rise of 2 per cent since 2021 to a total of 1,276 deaths in 2022. Again, I would convey my sympathies to all those who have lost their loved one. No one should die as a result of alcohol consumption, and we are working with partners to continue to deliver a range of activity to ensure that people are able to access the correct form of treatment when they require it. We will continue to take a whole-population approach to tackle alcohol-related harm, in line with the World Health Organization's focus on affordability, availability and attractiveness of alcohol. The programme for government reaffirmed this commitment, and we will soon be publishing a report on minimum unit pricing alongside a consultation on its future, both in terms of continuation of the scheme and if so at what price. We are also reviewing the responses to the alcohol marketing consultation. No one should be in any doubt that we will take further action to reduce alcohol harm and particularly to protect children from its ill effects. At the end of August, we also recognised international overdose awareness day. Coming so close to our publication of our annual drug-related death figures, this is always the poignant day here in Scotland. As part of that day, I was pleased to be able to spend some time with Police Scotland colleagues one year on from the roll-out of their national naloxone courage initiative. Police Scotland is the only national police force in the world where every front-line officer is trained in the use of naloxone and carries a kit for use in the event of encountering an overdose. To date, police officers have administered naloxone on more than 300 separate occasions. One of the officers that I spoke with told me that someone had been trained in the use of naloxone in the morning and then they had to administer it later that day. Police Scotland hopes that by having officers carrying naloxone in a highly visible manner that it will encourage others to learn about naloxone and consider carrying it themselves. This is the message that I would reiterate and I would encourage everyone here to get themselves trained and to carry a kit. September is also international recovery month and I am pleased to have been invited to take part in a number of events so far this month and further events still to come. As Minister of Drugs and Alcohol Policy, I welcome those opportunities to join with communities to stand with them in support of the work that they do but also to demonstrate our commitment to recovery and providing people with the support that they need when they need it. As we continue to deliver on that commitment through our national mission, I am delighted to see the publication of a report from the Cora Foundation today which provides an overview of the various projects funded through the national mission funds from April 21 until March 2023. Following the recent funding that was announced in March 2023, the Cora funding totaling £65 million over the lifetime of this Parliament now supports more than 200 grassroots and third sector projects across Scotland. In vitally, those funds are a multi-year which provides much-needed assurance to those funded organisations and which is highly welcomed across the sector. I recently visited one of those funded projects back on the road, which is a unique employability project in Glasgow's East End, supporting those in recovery from drug and alcohol addiction issues. Through the restoration of vintage vehicles and training in workshop practices alongside the development of softer skills required in a work environment, they develop an individual's self-worth, sense of belonging and feeling of self-responsibility. In addition, they also build trust with others, their workshop colleagues and their tutors, thus furthering reducing the stigma around addiction. That is just one example of what that funding can do. The report that was published today provides information on the outcomes and progress, along with the challenges and successes of all the funded projects that have supported over 37,000 people across Scotland. Despite the progress that we have seen to date, both in terms of funding allocated but more importantly in the lives saved, I remain in no doubt about the work that remains in front of us. We know that the most important thing remains being able to offer people the type of treatment that works best for them at the time that works for them. We know that there remain a number of challenges for us to address in order to get to that point. However, we also know that change is possible, and that reduction in our drug deaths figures show that the work that we are doing is making a difference. The minister will now take questions on the issues raised in her statement. I intend to allow around 20 minutes for questions after which we will move on to the next item of business. I will be grateful to all members who wish to put a question where to press their request-to-speak buttons and I call on Sue Webber. This morning it was revealed that there have already been 600 suspected drug deaths in the first half of 2023, up 7 per cent on the same period last year. It is vital that the Scottish Government takes every practical step that it can to tackle the epidemic of drug misuse sweeping our country. I have reservations about the effectiveness of consumption rooms. However, the decision that was made by the Lord Advocate yesterday tells us that there was always a way to do this, and the SNP now has won less excuse for their failures. Ann Marie Ward of Drugs Charity Favour UK has said that safe consumption rooms need to be underpinned by vital access to prescription programmes, detoxification and rehabilitation services, as laid out in the right to recovery bill. It is now up to the SNP Government to demonstrate that safe consumption rooms can work to back our crucial right to recovery bill and to finally start tackling the drug deaths crisis that Nicola Sturgeon and now Humza Yousaf have presided over. During the statement in June, I asked you about the recovery programmes for those suffering from addiction in our prisons. The answer only referenced services after they leave prison, so I will ask again, can the minister tell us what has been done to break the cycle of addiction in prisons? I recognise Sue Webber's intense focus on the area, and I welcome that focus right across the chamber. I think that all of us have to work together on that. In terms of justice settings, the medication-assisted treatment that we are pushing and supporting local areas, including healthcare teams in prisons, we need that achieved, that full implementation by 2025 as previously announced. We know that there are specific challenges in justice settings, as highlighted by the benchmarking report. However, we have already announced our intention to improve healthcare in prisons through new models of care. Right now, we have HMP Perth as an improvement site for medication-assisted treatment standards, and the learning from that is going to be cascaded through the entirety of the prison estate. We also have peer and naloxone workers working within our prison estate to make sure that they are cascading that lifesaving naloxone treatment to people who are in prison. The mat standards implementation support team this year will be supporting healthcare teams in prison settings on embedding mat standards 3 in particular. That is about assertive outreach, but that outreach can also take place in prison settings. We are actually seeing a lot of recovery communities and recovery cafes in prison settings, so that is really important too. There is a lot of work on going in prisons, and I will be happy to perhaps have a meeting with Ms Webber to keep her update on that. Since the SNP declared the drug crisis as a public health emergency in 2019, more than 4,000 lives have been lost, and in the last six months, drug deaths have gone up to more than 600. I welcome the intervention by the Lord Advocate. Not prosecuting people for using safe consumption rooms is a pragmatic approach and allows progress to be made in the pilot scheme in Glasgow. However, as others, including the anti-poverty campaigner Darren MacGavi, have commented, the law has not changed. The constitutional fighting between two Governments has thankfully not stood in the way of progress. The shame is that this could have been done ages ago and perhaps more lives would have been saved. However, that is only one part of the fight against drug deaths and drug use. We need to ensure that treatment and rehabilitation services are available when people need them. Why have there been cuts to the alcohol and drug treatment budgets? Why are facilities such as the Turning Point Centre for Women with Addictions being closed down? Can she confirm that, when the medication-assisted treatment standards promised 18 months ago will be fully implemented? I thank Jackie Baillie for that question, but I would like to point out, just before I answer the substance of her second part of her question, that what we have seen from the Lord Advocate yesterday is a position that she has taken on a very specific proposal that was placed in front of her by ourselves in Glasgow's health and social care partnership. That varies hugely from the original one that went to the Lord Advocate previously. Although the law has not changed, we needed a very specific proposal for the Lord Advocate to look at. On the budget that we have in front of us, I have to make sure that people understand that there are no cuts to the budget. Those claims are based on a misrepresentation of a recent PQ answer and were not the total budget available to ADPs or the third sector and did not represent the full drugs and alcohol budget. In 2021, the total drugs and alcohol budget was £140.7 million. In 2022 and 2023, the total budget was £141.9 million. That budget has again increased to £155.5 million in 2023-24. It is also important to point out that no one has proposed any reduction in funding in terms of our response to community justice within settings, including Glasgow, and turning points to one-eight service. We know that there is a wealth of international evidence supporting safer drug consumption facilities, so it is hugely welcome to have confirmation that if a facility of the type described in the Glasgow proposal were to open as a pilot, then the Lord Advocate would be prepared to publish a statement of prosecution policy that it would not be in the public interest to prosecute users of that facility. For simple possession, offences committed within the confines of the facility. Given the latest development, can the minister set out the Scottish Government's next steps in supporting Glasgow to establish this vital facility? It is now for Glasgow's health and social care partnership to take the proposal to the next meeting of their integrated joint board. I understand that that is scheduled for 27 September. In order to proceed, they will need to provide an update to their integrated joint board and to be instructed to undertake a public consultation work as requested by the Lord Advocate to establish the evaluation framework for this pilot. That is so important in that public consultation work. We have been clear in our commitment to establishing a safer drug consumption facility in Scotland, and following the possession from the Lord Advocate, we will continue to work closely with colleagues in Glasgow to agree the next steps and review options around implementation, including funding. It is clear from the statement that the Scottish Government always had the ability to act on a pilot of drug consumption rooms if only the SNP asked the right question, but it did not. Implementation is key to any pilot. My questions are, where will the rooms be, will the local residents be consulted, will addicts be expected to travel from local communities into towns and centres and what support and interventions will be available in those consumption rooms? The proposals that Glasgow is going to put before their integrated joint board will include the detail of some of the questions that Dr Gilhane is asking, but the consultation with the communities is actually going to be really vital because we need to ensure that there is no stigma associated with us and that communities definitely feel as if they have been part of the decision making. We know that there are between 400 and 500 people who are injecting in alleyways within Glasgow city centre, so I anticipate that that is going to include a city centre location as its proposal. That is for Glasgow to set out and we remain to see what they take to the integrated joint board. I, too, welcome the announcement yesterday from the Lord Advocate. Does the minister agree with me that Police Scotland's support and commitment to working with partners to reduce the harms associated with problematic substance use is crucial in ensuring that policing is not a barrier to treatment? Yes, absolutely. We are hugely grateful for the support provided by Police Scotland. It would not have been possible to reach this point without their collaboration and partnership working in the development of the proposal that was submitted to the Lord Advocate. That follows the appearance of the Lord Advocate at the criminal justice committee, where she laid out the parameters as to what type of proposal she would be willing to look at should something be put in front of her. Police Scotland remains key partners in our work in reducing drugs deaths. It remains committed to working in partnership to reduce the harms associated with problematic substance use and addiction. In addition, it also runs its own drug strategy board by bringing together key partners and stakeholders from across a number of areas, including in government and third sector organisations. Part of the work of that board is to develop a public health approach to policing. As I said before, I am so grateful that all of our police officers now carry life-saving overdose reversal first aid in the form of deloxone. Paul Sweeney, we need to be followed by Emma Harper. Yesterday's announcement from the Lord Advocate is a vindication for all of those who have long said that this was possible, particularly Peter Cricant, who I worked with on an unofficial overdose prevention pilot in Glasgow in 2020, saving eight lives and who is in the gallery today. In 2017, the previous Lord Advocate said that it was not possible, despite operating under the same laws and guidance as the current Lord Advocate. So can the minister tell us what exactly has changed with the latest proposal over those six years that makes this possible now? And what does she have to say to the 7,127 families who have lost loved ones since the previous Lord Advocate rejected the original proposal? Many of them would still be alive today if there hadn't been such devastating intransigence from people in positions of power in this country. We need to recognise that the proposal that was put in front of the previous Lord Advocate was much wider in its scope. That proposal actually asked the former Lord Advocate to change the law, which he was not able to do. He set out in his response to that request the reasons why he couldn't. That was why it was really important for time to be taken to work through a proposal that was actually going to meet the parameters that is set by the new Lord Advocate to the Justice Committee in November 2021. That was worked on solidly by officials within the Scottish Government, partners within the health and social care partnership of Glasgow and Police Scotland, to arrive to a position where the information that was set in front of the Lord Advocate allowed her to come to the position that she came to yesterday. Emma Harper, to be followed by Alex Cole-Hamilton. Evidence tells us that overdose occurs when a combination of substances are taken, substances including benzodiazepines or blue or street benzos, which account for 73 per cent of overdoses. That is particularly prevalent in rural areas, such as Dumfries and Galloway. There is a reversal agent for benzodiazepines called Flemazanil, which I am aware of, and I used it when I worked in the perioperative department as a registered nurse. So could the minister provide an update on research under way on this reversal agent, bearing in mind that this would only be part of a multiple-pronged approach to the prevention of deaths? The use of Flemazanil can be an effective part of an overall strategy to tackle the harms caused by benzodiazepines. It is an antagonist and antidote to benzodiazepine overdose, which has been studied fairly extensively. Because of the risk from the side effects identified in studies, current clinical guidelines in the UK restrict its use to train clinicians, which means that there is little prospect of it being used outside of hospitals at this current time. That is a drug that can be used in stabilisation services, and that is why the Scottish Government has committed to supplying an extra £2 million every single year of the rest of the Parliament to ensure that we can scale up stabilisation services to address the issue of benzodiazepine use and the illicit benzodiazepines that we have that we know are so very harmful. Alex Cole-Hamilton, to be followed by Corkab Stewart. Thank you very much, Presiding Officer. Unlike the minister, I, too, was pleased to read yesterday's update from the Lord Advocate around a safer consumption facility in Glasgow. I pay tribute to Peter Cracken in the gallery and indeed our colleague Paul Sweeney for the groundbreaking pioneering work that he did in this area. Around 100 people a month are still dying in our drug deaths emergency, and there is not a moment to lose here. We are slipping backwards. We saw that in statistics today. And there are people hundreds of miles outside of Glasgow who could also benefit from a space like this. So can I ask how is the Government going to share learning from this pilot and is it acting right now to build towards establishing a network of safe consumption facilities as soon as possible so that everyone who needs that help can get access to life savings. Minister. I share and echo Alex Cole-Hamilton's desire to see a network of those facilities right across the country because I think that is the way that we are actually going to interrupt the most amount of harm and unsafe lives. What we have before us from the Lord Advocate is a position that she is willing to take under this specific proposal that was in front of her. That is the pilot that we have to evaluate and understand how that operates. That does not give us the right to roll out other facilities across the country because that is the limitations that we are operating under with the Lord Advocate taking this position as opposed to having the full powers to do it ourselves or having the UK Government work with us to ensure that we can have safer drug consumption facilities right across the UK. I welcome the minister's update and the support that she is offering Glasgow's pilot of safe consumption facility. The UK Home Affairs Committee recently found that the drug laws are outdated and in need of reform to support greater use of public health-based drug interventions. Does the minister agree with me that the UK Government needs to give proper consideration to the Scottish Government's progressive proposals to reform and to start treating problematic drug use as a public health issue rather than that one of criminalisation? I absolutely welcome the cross-party Westminster Home Affairs Committee report that was released just last month recommending a review of the current drug laws. Multiple committees and experts and independent organisations have already called for an urgent review, including the independent drugs desk task force. We have been clear that what we face in Scotland in terms of drug deaths is a public health emergency and we cannot rely on only one route to change. We are working hard within the powers that we do have and whilst there is more that we need to do, the fact remains that the legal framework that we operate and undermine our public health approach. We are open to a full range of options and have set out policies that could be implemented through the devolution of further powers to Hollywood, including powers to change the criminal law on the use of drugs. Wider constitutional changes such as Scottish independence are clearly the fastest and the simplest way forward is for the UK Government to review and change the misuse of drugs act to support a public health approach across the entirety of the UK. Drug deaths are increasing across the whole of the UK despite the welcome decrease that we saw in 2022. We are going to experience the increasing prevalence of really strong synthetics and even stronger street benzodiazepines. We need to have all of the weapons in our armory to be able to respond to that. I echo the condolences of the minister to all those who have lost a loved one. I thank the minister for advance sight of her statement and I welcome the statement by the Lord Advocate. I want to follow other colleagues by paying tribute to campaigners who have worked tirelessly on this and particularly late peaked to crykin. What engagement has the minister had with the UK Government and is the minister satisfied that the UK Government will work with the consensus here in Scotland to allow a pilot safe consumption room to proceed? Just last week, I met the policing minister, Minister Phelps, and we discussed the possibility of the position statement coming at some point from the Lord Advocate. Whilst it is within its powers to decide that it might choose to prevent us from moving ahead with us, I think that its colleagues here in Scotland, in this chamber, are not going to stand in our way and have said that they will welcome the evaluation that a pilot would provide. I urge the UK Government to listen to its colleagues here and to listen to the rest of the chamber and to allow us to move forward with what I know is going to be a life-saving facility within Glasgow. I welcome the minister's commitment to me in writing that she will be meeting with Inverclyde's ADP, but can she confirm that, if additional resources are requested, that she stands ready to seriously consider any and all proposals? Following the publication of Scotland Drugs Nests figures for 2022, my officials are developing a programme of drug-related deaths in Scotland. I welcome the minister's commitment to me in writing that she will be meeting with Inverclyde's ADP, but can she confirm that, if additional resources are requested, that she stands ready to seriously consider any and all proposals? Following the publication of Scotland Drugs Nests figures for 2022, my officials are developing a programme of targeted engagement in those areas where we have seen an increase in drug-related deaths and, in particular, difficulties in delivery. That, of course, does include Inverclyde. I think that we need to take a moment to reflect that people who are living in poverty are 16 times more likely to experience a drug-related death. It is incumbent upon me and all ministers in our cross-government response to this to look at how we can intervene as early as we can. Our whole family approach that we have embedded is about getting alongside families at the most earliest opportunity to try to disrupt any propensity for somebody to use substances. In 2023-24, more than £112 million has been allocated to local areas for delivery and their local alcohol and drug services to support them to tackle the challenges in their area. I look forward to engaging with the delivery partners at Inverclyde to better understand what are the challenges and the requirements and the tackle any barriers that they have to improving services and the outcomes for people who are using drugs. The Drugs Minister, Eleanor Whitham, was asked four times how many beds, how many rehab beds there are now in Scotland, four times she couldn't answer. Campaigners and charities say that many people still can't access residential beds. Can the minister tell us today how many rehab beds are available right now and how many people have had to travel out with Scotland for rehabilitation? I can confirm them as we stand at the moment. We had 425 beds identified from the pathways report that we commissioned in 2021. Since then we have had two rounds of funding for rapid capacity increasing the bed across the country and we have added 172 to that. That represents a 40 per cent increase on the figures that we started with. By the end of this Parliament, I am anticipating that through other means, including further money that is going to ADPs and out into third sectors, we will see an increase to the 650 that we have asked for. That is going to see a 50 per cent increase in the number of beds available. What is important to recognise is that, although those are beds, we need to think about the placements. We anticipate that the 650 beds that we are going to get to will allow us to have 1,000 publicly funded spaces every single year available to people in Scotland to access residential rehab treatment. Just in the last quarter we had 812 access to that service and the last quarter saw the highest number of referrals to date. It is important that local areas have their residential rehabilitation pathways publicised and they are on the majority of ADPs' websites. Working with Scotland Excel to see if we can actually create a directory that would give people choice and scope as to where they would go in Scotland to access the treatment that they need. The drop in annual drug deaths is very welcome, but I am afraid that through all the exchanges today I still do not get the real sense that the Government knows why the annual figure has fallen. Drug workers and people living with addiction in Dundee tell me that there has been a very significant rise in the number of people using crack cocaine with all the associated impacts on violence and antisocial behaviour. What is the minister's view as to whether the associated fallen deaths may be the result of substituting one drug for another? Can the minister and officials show where and how policy action is directly preventing deaths? I thank Michael Marr for that question and we have engaged Public Health Scotland to do an evaluation and to look at the national mission, where the monies have reached and the impact of that. We need to have that clear picture as to where resources are best having effect. While I believe that the policies that are evidence-based that we have put in place are helping to turn that figure around, I recognise the concern that he and I share around the increasing use of cocaine and crack cocaine. It is interesting to see that the very rapid switch that has happened in Dundee, and that somewhere that I am having a close eye on, means that the services in Dundee are going to have to pivot to reflect that cocaine use. I have met a number of young people on my travels across Scotland who have presented to services for support and to reduce their cocaine habits. Something that perhaps started off as recreational and quickly spun out of control. There are a lot of issues around cocaine that I am going to be working with local areas for them to communicate to me. What are they putting in place to make sure that we can respond to that?