Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

COURIER OPINION: Dundee drugs crisis delays are costing lives

The Dundee Drugs Commission published its report on 2019 but the city's drugs crisis has shown no signs  of letting up.
The Dundee Drugs Commission published its report on 2019 but the city's drugs crisis has shown no signs of letting up.

The resignation of Simon Little as independent chairman of Dundee Alcohol and Drugs Partnership is a worrying development.

Mr Little has not given his reasons publicly for stepping aside, so there is a missing piece of the jigsaw here.

But what is clear is there is growing frustration about the speed at which reform of drugs strategy is being formulated and brought forward in Dundee.

Many organisations face accusations of being overly bureaucratic and slow-paced.

The difference here is we are not talking about the time it takes to fill potholes in the road or too few bin collections.

We are talking about people.

Real human beings who have lives to live, love to give and talents to share but who, for myriad reasons, have seen their horizons cut short by the impacts of spiralling drug use.

For those people this is a matter of life and death.

Dundee Drugs crisis demands urgent action

The drugs scourge has claimed hundreds of lives in Dundee alone in recent years.

The rates are so high the city claimed the unenviable title of Europe’s drugs death capital.

No one is denying progress is being made, that intentions are good and that positive work is being done to help those in need.

Partners, including Dr Robert Peat, chairman of the Dundee Drugs Commission and council leader John Alexander, at the publication of the commission’s report in 2019. Photo: Mhairi Edwards/DCT Media.

But when people are dying and lives are being blighted by substance misuse, there is no time to spare in bringing about change.

Earlier this year the Dundee Drugs Commission said the scale of the problem was greater than it was first thought – and the response to date had not gone far enough, deep enough or fast enough to address the crisis.

That is a call to arms that demands an immediate response.

It demands a laser focus and relentless determination to push through the change needed to save lives.

There is no greater prize. And no greater consequence of failure.


Conversation