Solvent Abuse
The final item of business today is a members' business debate on motion S1M-3526, in the name of Marilyn Livingstone, on solvent abuse. The debate will be concluded without any question being put.
I ask members who are leaving the chamber to do so quickly and quietly.
Motion debated,
That the Parliament recognises the work of the O'Brien family from Fife in setting up the Lee O'Brien Solvent Trust (LOST); acknowledges the very real threat to young lives posed by solvent abuse; believes that new practical preventative measures are required to control sales of lighter refill gas; notes the support of 18 local authorities for the actions of the LOST campaign and the thousands of individuals who have signed the LOST campaign petition, and considers that the Scottish Executive should take measures to increase protection from solvent abuse through education and, where necessary, legislation.
In January 2002, almost one year ago, Lee O'Brien died as a result of inhaling cigarette lighter refill gas. Every year, the substance kills approximately 70 young people between the ages of 12 and 18 throughout the UK.
Lee's father, John, and his sister, Susan, along with other family members, decided to begin a campaign for tighter controls on the sale of solvents. The campaign also aims to raise awareness of the dangers among young people. I wish to acknowledge the tireless efforts of the O'Brien family in creating the Lee O'Brien Solvent Trust. John and Susan are in the public gallery this evening and I put on record my personal thanks for their dedication and tireless commitment to the campaign. I also thank members who are present this evening, and all those who supported the motion.
Hugh Henry and Helen Eadie met the family recently when they handed in their 15,000-signature petition to the Public Petitions Committee. Both members were as impressed as I am with the family's genuine commitment to the campaign. Media interest—particularly coverage by the BBC, ITV, the Daily Record and the Fife Free Press Group—has helped to expose the deadly threat from solvent abuse. I hope that tonight's debate and the deliberations of the Scottish Parliament and the Executive will ensure that progress will be made in the near future.
The support that the campaign has attracted has been wide ranging and much appreciated. Twenty-three local authorities in Scotland have pledged their support and I thank Fife Council—particularly Councillor Christine May—for its help with that part of the campaign, which has been successful. More than 15,000 Fifers signed the petition and we welcome the support of Dougray Scott and Stephen Hendry, which not only helped the family but kept the issue high on the agenda. The petition is now in the hands of the Public Petitions Committee, which I hope will consider it on Tuesday 14 January.
I will quote Susan O'Brien on why the family feel that the petition and tonight's debate are necessary. She said:
"I am proud to have come this far with the campaign and we have all worked extremely hard this year. I am doing this for Lee and to help safeguard the lives of other children. I would hate for anyone to experience the loss that me and my family have suffered this year; it's such a tragic waste. If someone had taken this initiative before now, I'm sure things would be different.
I am however confident that we can make a difference and the government has a responsibility to react positively to Solvent Abuse. There is a desperate need for new measures to be taken to prevent any further deaths and hopefully this petition will help to encourage this.
The amount of support we have had is overwhelming and without this I don't think we would have got this far and for that I am very grateful."
Susan's words are quite moving. I hope members agree that she put things far more succinctly than I could have done.
The stark reality is that solvent abuse kills. More than 2,000 deaths from solvent abuse have been recorded in the United Kingdom, with approximately 70 deaths every year. The threat cannot and must not be underestimated. The product is freely available—it is sold over the counter. We ask the Executive to take measures to increase awareness and protection for our young people through education and, where necessary, legislation.
We believe that practical, preventive measures are required to control the sale of volatile substances. In particular, we want the age at which a person can purchase such products legally to be increased. Perhaps the Executive could consider a requirement for proof of age, similar to that for buying tobacco and alcohol.
Reduction of the size of canisters from 250ml to 50ml might also help to dissuade young people from buying the products. We would also like the canisters to display warnings about the dangers, which should be backed up by a campaign of warning posters in retail outlets. In addition, a test-purchasing campaign should be undertaken to expose shopkeepers who fail in their legal duties. We hope that the minister will consider setting up a pilot scheme in Fife to trial the effectiveness of test purchasing, which we believe would be a significant step forward.
The campaign has the support of the Society for the Prevention of Solvent and Volatile Substance Abuse—Re-Solv—and I thank Ralph McGregor, who is also in the gallery, and Warren Hawksley and for their support, advice and help.
On the effects of solvent abuse, Re-Solv states:
"The products abused are volatile by name and by nature. There is no real uniform pattern of effect on an abuser. One instance of abuse may result in a very limited bodily reaction. The next time may induce death. Re-Solv has recently been working with the slogan ‘A Loaded Gun', inferring that those abusing cannot predict the risks of each incident."
That is why education and awareness raising are important. We welcome the £13 million for drug treatment and the £20 million for rehabilitation. In particular, we welcome the £20 million for drug work targeted at children and young people.
We do not question the Executive's commitment to tackle the problems associated with drugs and volatile substances. However, we ask for sustainable resources to be targeted at the solvent abuse threat. We will meet the minister and Re-Solv early in the new year to discuss the know the score campaign and how we can best get our message over. We look forward to working with the minister and the Executive on the issue and on all the other issues that will be raised in the debate.
We know that lighter refill gas is a hidden killer that must be exposed at every opportunity. Too many young lives have been lost. We owe it to Lee O'Brien and others like him to succeed in our campaign.
I congratulate Marilyn Livingstone on securing the debate—I know how important the issue is to her and to the O'Brien family. I hope that John and Susan O'Brien, who are in the public gallery, will take some comfort in the fact that the Scottish Parliament and the Executive are taking solvent abuse so seriously. The loss of Lee's young life from sniffing and inhaling cigarette lighter fuel is such a tragedy that the O'Brien family deserve our absolute support.
The tragedy that affected the O'Brien family is not an isolated incident. For that reason, Re-Solv has been working in Scotland to continue to fight for action to stop the waste of life that follows the misuse of volatile substances. From the literature that Re-Solv has given me, I note that there is a solvent abuse clinic in Craigmillar medical centre that targets young people of school age. I am sure that that initiative is not the only one, but we need to work with the Executive to promote awareness of the places where the public can go for help and information if they encounter the problems that the O'Briens have encountered.
It is important to highlight the efforts of local government, which has recognised that it is not enough to offer sympathy alone to families such as the O'Briens. If the loss of Lee's life is to mean anything, we need to take action. Recognising the tragedy, Fife Council has spearheaded a campaign and secured overwhelming support in Scotland. It hopes that action will follow as a result, and local authorities throughout Scotland have signed up to give their clear support. The actions that Fife Council has called for include backing the Lee O'Brien Solvent Trust, which was launched in March after Lee's death, in its call for a change in the law to make shopkeepers record every sale of solvents by asking for identification and a signature. The council also supports work with young people through the substance misuse education programme to raise awareness at an early age about the dangers of solvent abuse. The council is also involved in promoting alternatives for bored youngsters, such as the Fifestyle card.
Representations have been made by the Fife drugs and alcohol action team to an independent committee that is considering tightening up sales of alcohol to under-18s, calling for the same consideration to be given to solvent sales. Fife Council has called for action to be taken to heighten awareness among retailers and relevant professionals about the dangers of selling solvents to young people. It will also monitor proof-of-age card pilot schemes in other parts of Scotland to see whether a similar scheme could be introduced in Fife.
As deputy convener of the Public Petitions Committee, I was privileged to be asked to receive the petition from John and Susan O'Brien. I hope that the committee will be able to identify ways of helping to secure the necessary action, although I am sure that the minister will probably pre-empt us today, as I know that he, too, is sympathetic to the issue. I also hope that the committee will help to promote the critical message of making everyone aware of the dangers. Let us not make Lee's life one that was lost in vain. Let us make it mean something, which would give comfort to the O'Brien family.
I start by congratulating Marilyn Livingstone on securing the debate and, more important, on all the support that she has given to John and Susan O'Brien in their campaign. Anyone who has watched the campaign carefully would recognise that it is a tribute to both the O'Brien family and Marilyn.
Lee O'Brien's death was a great tragedy. The biggest tragedy of all is that, while we are putting resources into tackling drugs and alcohol, we are putting very few resources into tackling solvent abuse or even into raising awareness about solvent abuse. Some 10 or 15 years ago, solvent abuse was something that was spoken about quite often, because that was what many young people indulged in. Unfortunately, we now concentrate so much on drugs and alcohol abuse that we have all but forgotten that solvent abuse is still going on. It is only when there are tragedies such as that of Lee O'Brien that the public and politicians focus on the problem.
Lee's death has highlighted the issue once more. It is not an issue that has gone away, but one that continues to damage people, with 70 young people dying every year in the United Kingdom through solvent abuse. That means 70 wasted young lives and 70 destroyed families. That is why it is important that we congratulate the O'Brien family on putting their grief to one side and campaigning to ensure that we raise awareness about solvent abuse in general and the abuse of lighter refill gas in particular.
I congratulate Fife Council and the other local authorities that have signed up in support of the campaign. They know the problems in our communities, and it is vital that we recognise where all the pitfalls are for young people. We must raise awareness and ensure that the resources are in place. If we are not considering legislation to encourage retailers to address their responsibilities, we should be ensuring that, even without legislation, retailers take responsible social action and do not sell solvents such as lighter fuel to young people in the quantities that they are undoubtedly selling them in. The retail community has a responsibility, notwithstanding any need for future legislation. Retailers must address what they are doing to our communities and we need to raise awareness within the retail community.
I ask the minister to respond positively to the pleas of Marilyn Livingstone and to the campaign by the O'Brien family, who have come to the Public Petitions Committee and have now had their campaign highlighted in the Parliament. I ask the minister to make a positive contribution to the debate, so that we can see where we can go and how we can help the O'Briens' campaign. We need to know how we can raise the issue of solvent abuse among parents, young people and retailers, to ensure that no other young lives are wasted.
This is an important debate on a subject that has caused much heartache to families in Scotland and throughout the United Kingdom. Like other members, I too congratulate Marilyn Livingstone on pursuing this important topic as a members' business debate.
Too many young lives have been lost for far too long. Tragically, statistics tell us that young people continue to lose their lives, unaware of the great dangers inherent in solvent abuse. If too many die, it is frightening to think of how many are damaged through prolonged use and how many families are having to cope with a type of addiction that is not recognised as widely as some others are. We urgently need more information on the scale and impact of that tragic addiction, and we need test purchasing to start now. We have waited too long. Test purchasing is a vital aspect of the campaign to reduce the incidence of solvent abuse. It needs to start and the prevarication needs to stop.
We need to step up public information campaigns to bring the full dangers to the attention of young people and their parents. We are about to consider the Commissioner for Children and Young People (Scotland) Bill. Having been involved in the scrutiny of the financial memorandum for that bill, I am well aware that we may be about to allocate a very substantial budget to ensure its successful implementation. I have no doubt that many demands will be placed on the new commissioner. Perhaps we can be among the first to make a request, by asking the commissioner, as they connect with young people, to impart knowledge of the danger of solvent abuse.
When the minister replies to the debate, I hope that we will hear how the Executive intends to focus on that terrible danger to the young and not so young alike. I hope that we will hear who will tackle the issue and how they will be asked to do so. Just as important, I hope that we will hear when that will happen.
I welcome Mr Tom McCabe's comments and I congratulate Marilyn Livingstone on her success in raising the matter and on her persuasive speech.
People's first thoughts of solvent abuse are usually about glue sniffing, but abusers do not sniff only glue. Solvents include all substances that contain butane or propane gas, trichloroethylene and tetrachloroethylene. That means that gas refills and lighters, some aerosols, some air fresheners, some paint thinners and correcting fluid—all of which contain butane or propane—can be sniffed.
Lighter fuel gives a temporary high when it is sniffed, but can cause side effects such as vomiting and dizziness, and can kill. It can cause suffocation in 20 seconds or leave people with serious brain damage. Between 1971 and 1999, there were 1,857 deaths in the United Kingdom related to volatile substance use, 250 of which occurred in Scotland.
We express our deepest sympathy to John O'Brien and his family and we are aware that his son Lee died from inhaling butane gas. John O'Brien established the Lee O'Brien Solvent Trust in a bid to prevent more deaths. Recently, he met the Deputy Minister for Justice, Hugh Henry, and handed over a 15,000-signature petition that called for a ban on sales to youngsters and for the tightening of regulations on selling solvents.
The campaign is intended to combat, and inform young people of, the devastating effects of solvent abuse. It is aimed at the Scottish Parliament and bids to change the laws on butane gas that is sold as lighter fuel and to introduce preventive safety measures to eradicate solvent abuse.
Before 1985, Scots courts established that supplying such substances was an offence under Scottish common law, which classifies as criminal actions that are deemed wilful and reckless and that injure another person. David Marshall's Solvent Abuse (Scotland) Act 1983, which I supported in the House of Commons, strengthened the law further. The act made sniffing volatile substances a ground for referral to the children's panel. In the light of what has happened, it is time to revisit the subject, which is important and distressing.
John O'Brien wants Scotland to be brought into line with the rest of the UK, where trading standards officers can undertake test purchasing by sending children into shops to try to buy alcohol, tobacco and lighter fuel. Officers in Scotland are prohibited from doing that. That might be entrapment, but we would not object to it, as young people's lives are in danger. Will the minister explain his position on that? I hope that he will give us some assurance.
I support Marilyn Livingstone's aims. I believe strongly that her motion, which is about protecting our young people from the inherent dangers of solvent abuse, is necessary and timely. We are interested in putting in place the strongest anti-drugs measures, such as tougher enforcement, better drugs education and enhanced treatment and rehabilitation services. We look forward to learning how the minister intends to find the best ways forward.
I congratulate Marilyn Livingstone on the motion, which allowed us to have the debate. I pay tribute to John O'Brien and his family. We need to acknowledge the role that the O'Brien family played in prompting the debate. That is not to be churlish by denying Marilyn Livingstone's role, but without the O'Brien family's concerted activity, neither she nor anyone else could have facilitated tonight's debate. The tribute to the O'Brien family is more meaningful if we understand the circumstances in which the debate takes place. It is right to convey our sympathy and condolences to the family, but we should also convey our admiration for their courage in adversity and our gratitude that they are determined that something should result from the tragedy.
Recently, I met the O'Brien family when they visited Edinburgh with Marilyn Livingstone to present a petition to the Parliament. I listened to what they said and was moved by their resilience. I could empathise, to a large extent, with what they said. I have two daughters and one son, who is only a year older than Lee was. I thought, "There but for the grace of God go I, or any member of my family." The meeting brought home to me starkly the fact that none of us can be complacent about what our children are doing and that none of us can take it for granted that our children will be safe from society's horrors. In a much more meaningful way than any document, report or paper could do, the meeting brought home to me what solvent abuse does to ordinary families throughout Scotland and the United Kingdom. The O'Briens could have been my neighbours. Our family or friends' families could have been affected, but the O'Briens were. They have stuck with what they are doing and are determined that some good can come of things.
Unfortunately, far too many young people are exposed to solvent and alcohol abuse and drugs because of their immaturity or foolhardiness. They think that they are invincible and that things will never happen to them. Too many succumb. In the past couple of weeks, there has been a tragic case in Paisley, in which a 16-year-old girl died as a result of consuming a mixture of cannabis, ecstasy and alcohol. Another family was blighted by dangerous and inappropriately taken substances. John O'Brien and his family have said that huge attention has been paid to drugs and alcohol and that solvent abuse has somehow been left off the front pages. John O'Brien is right to remind us of the dangers of solvent abuse.
We are talking about cheap substances that are widely accessible alternatives to alcohol and illegal drugs. Many youngsters might dabble once or twice and not return to them, but others persist. Unfortunately, even the first or second incident can be fatal. While such substances are not physically addictive and dependency is rare, some people will regularly indulge in them, despite the fact that taking them irregularly can be dangerous. It is possible to develop a tolerance for butane that can lead to the intake of several cans a day, which entails many risks. Such substances are not only volatile, but the use of them and behaviour resulting from them can be volatile. Young people are playing Russian roulette with their lives. We need to be aware of the significance of exposure to and use of such substances.
Members have raised similar issues. I hope that some legal issues that are reserved matters for our colleagues in the UK Parliament will be considered, but what can we do? The issue of test purchasing has been raised. There is a role for trading standards officers throughout the country in considering the current law and how it should be applied, determining what can be done and identifying gaps in legislation.
One of the matters that we must reflect on carefully in relation to test purchasing is the problem about evidence in Scots law, to which Lord James Douglas-Hamilton and others have referred. We need to consider some issues carefully to ensure that there is no danger that we are encouraging incitement or entrapment, which would invalidate the evidence. The Executive and the Lord Advocate are sensitive to that issue. The Lord Advocate has relaxed prosecution policy in four pilot areas to see whether the use of test purchasing can be sustained in law. Although that experiment was driven by tobacco sales, the fundamental legal issues are the same. The experiment will start in February next year and run through the year, and we can apply anything that we learn from it about sales to under-age children across all substances, including volatile substances.
I will make a suggestion, which is not about the Executive ducking responsibility. Given that the four pilot areas will be up and running in February, it is unlikely that we could do anything more quickly that would throw up evidence in relation to solvent abuse. If someone sells alcohol, tobacco or solvents to under-age children, they are breaking the law and we need to do something about it. We will learn lessons from the pilot areas about how we tackle the problem.
One thing that Fife Council could reasonably do now would be to consider whether it could run test-purchase schemes. Under current rules, the evidence would not be admissible in court but it would demonstrate the scale and extent of under-age sales—particularly of solvents—which would be of enormous benefit in determining whether anything further could be done. Although Fife Council might not be able to prosecute on the basis of such evidence, it could establish facts and figures that could help the Executive to determine whether more legal action is required. I would be willing for our officials to talk to Fife Council to see whether its trading standards officers could run test-purchase schemes on the issue. We could then reflect on the evidence.
If the pilot schemes show that abuse is happening throughout the country, we will take whatever action is necessary to tackle the problem. Although the pilots will focus on tobacco, the results will be applicable to other issues. Something practicable can be done. I hope that Marilyn Livingstone can facilitate some discussion with Fife Council to see whether that approach could make a contribution.
We are aware that education is of fundamental importance but, as I said, young people think that they are invincible and that it will never happen to them. We must ensure that education on solvents, like alcohol and drugs education, is pitched in a way that gets information across to young people, and make it clear that we are not lecturing them, preaching to them or ordering them about. We must encourage better understanding of the dangers.
Scotland Against Drugs and the Health Education Board for Scotland have produced a booklet, "The facts of drugs: a parents guide", which includes a section on volatile substances. That publication is currently being updated. A Scotland Against Drugs publication, "Drugs: know your stuff", which is widely available, also deals with solvent abuse. Anyone who is concerned about volatile substance abuse—parents, teenagers or children—can contact our free and confidential "Know the Score" information line to speak to a trained operator. Logging on to the "Know the Score" website also gives access to a great deal of information.
Like Marilyn Livingstone, I pay tribute to the work of the charity Re-Solv, including its video "A Loaded Gun". Re-Solv has provided a lot of supporting information, which is being distributed widely in schools.
We cannot be complacent. Although the number of people in Scotland who die from solvent abuse is far smaller than the number who die from drug abuse, any death is one too many. The death with which the O'Brien family have had to cope should be a telling lesson for us all. Such an incident can happen to any of us, anywhere, at any time. The O'Brien family are to be commended and thanked genuinely for allowing us the opportunity to reflect on a serious issue that still blights and destroys far too many lives in Scotland. I will do what I can—and the Executive will do what it can—to support the on-going work to ensure that substance abuse is taken seriously.
Meeting closed at 17:35.