Meeting of the Parliament

Meeting date: Tuesday, February 4, 2014

Official Report 937KB pdf

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Time for Reflection

The first item of business is time for reflection. Our leader today is Christine Duncan, the chief executive officer of Scottish Families Affected by Alcohol and Drugs.

Presiding Officer and members of the Scottish Parliament, thank you for the opportunity to address you this afternoon.

Imagine you go home tonight and someone in your family—a son, daughter, partner or sister—tells you that they are addicted to drugs and you then find that society either blames you for the addiction or fails to understand what it means for a family to be in recovery. That is the reality for many of the families in Scotland that have been impacted by a loved one’s substance misuse. Current estimates say that there are about 60,000 problematic drug users and 200,000 problem drinkers in Scotland. Around each person who has an addiction there is a constellation of anywhere between four and six people who are directly impacted.

Scottish Families Affected by Alcohol and Drugs is tasked with delivering the drug and alcohol strategies. We have a national helpline and, from callers to the helpline and the many families we engage with through a network of peer-led family support groups, we hear daily what the reality is for everyone affected. We hear from 78-year-old parents who are struggling to cope with a 55-year-old son’s drug addiction; we hear from parents who are worried about their teenage son’s use of new psychoactive substances, or legal highs; and we hear about cousins who are worried that their relative has once more relapsed and is suicidal.

Numerous national and international studies show that the harms that are experienced by families as a result of their relative’s drug misuse include psychological distress, mental and physical ill-health, domestic abuse and negative financial consequences. It can also lead to social isolation. Stigma, unfortunately, still surrounds anyone who has an addiction, and for those close to someone who has an addiction, there is the double stigma of often being shunned just for loving a son or father or daughter who is misusing substances. One family member told me that it was easier dealing with her son’s addiction than it is being ignored or pointed at in the street by neighbours and former friends.

What do families need? They are in need of services in their own right. They need understanding and support to help them as they hold their families together. Again on our helpline, when asked what they would like, the average family member simply says, “Help for my boy,” or, “I just want her to get her life back together.” Families are very selfless. What would our communities be without them?

I would like to leave you with the following thought: while children outgrow childhood, parents never outgrow parenthood.