Chamber and committees

I was pleased to hear recent announcements that encouraged a higher uptake of physical activity for my constituents in that area—in particular, the announcement of the Stranraer water sports hub, which is expected to open in 2026, and the new indoor tennis courts development at the King George V complex in Dumfries.

Will the minister join me in welcoming those significant investments to the sports sector in Dumfries and Galloway, and will she consider joining me to visit both sites to see the marked improvement that they will make for local people?

Will the member accept an intervention? I will be brief.

I am really interested in tackling stigma as well. As a former healthcare professional, I think that it would be valuable to also provide stigma education to healthcare professionals who do not work in drug and alcohol services. Does the member agree?

I will take an intervention.

The ability to make pre-application community engagement mandatory is reserved to the UK Government under the consenting regime in the UK Electricity Act 1989, which limits our ability to reform energy policy. Will the minister advise me what engagement the Scottish Government has had with the new UK Government on reforms to ensure that planning processes can be taken forward swiftly while giving local communities a voice?

I welcome the work of the people’s panel and its excellent report. Ahead of the debate, I received a briefing from Professor O’Gorman and Gillian McElroy at the University of the West of Scotland—and I should, at this point, thank everyone for their briefings.

I and other members of the joint committee are grateful to the members of the people’s panel for their diligence in taking the time to put together a thoughtful and direct series of recommendations on drug misuse and what we as a society could do better to help save and change lives. I cannot do the full report justice in the few minutes that I have, but I want to highlight a few of the issues that the people’s panel addressed and a few of the effects of drug misuse that we are seeing in our communities right now.

First, I want to pick up on what Elena Whitham said about the interesting effects of some of the new drugs that we are seeing. Just last week, NHS Dumfries and Galloway issued an alert in which it warned of sudden onset overdoses as a result of the almost instantaneous effects of heroin contaminated with synthetic opioids. Street heroin is now being cut with nitazenes, a more potent and powerful form of synthetic opioid that is around 600 times stronger than street heroin. The consequences are tragically predictable. Overdoses are massively more likely; the effect of naloxone is sharply reduced, which means that multiple doses of it are needed to counteract the effects of an overdose; and the additional doses take more time to administer in a situation in which seconds are vital.

Last October, my office team was trained in the use of naloxone nasally or in injectable form by Ruth McCall, a specialist addictions nurse who works for NHS Dumfries and Galloway. We were happy to receive that training.

Many folk still see drug misuse as being purely about heroin addiction, but the huge growth of synthetic opioids, which I have mentioned, and the speed at which the use of illicit benzodiazepines has spread show that that is not the case. As others have mentioned, there is the issue of polydrug use, but polymethod drug use is a factor, too. The people’s panel highlighted the rapid changes in drug supply, along with the need to ensure that people with direct or indirect lived experience of drug misuse are at the heart of decision making on policy and practicalities.

Another thing that comes through consistently in the panel’s recommendations is the importance of tackling stigma. I mentioned that issue in my intervention on Collette Stevenson, which I thank her for accepting. We have spoken here about stigma on numerous occasions. If we agree that drug misuse is a public health issue, as I hope we all do, it must be treated as exactly that. People should not be put off going into treatment, or even taking a first step towards treatment, because they fear judgment, stigmatisation or discrimination when they first pick up the phone or arrive for an appointment.

Judgment sometimes occurs when users encounter other health services outside of those for drugs and alcohol. I have repeatedly raised that issue here and have had meetings with ministers on it. I was recently pleased to find out about a brand-new e-learning programme on the NHS Turas platform that has been created and developed in collaboration with people from the Scottish recovery consortium who have lived experience. The programme, which is free to any healthcare professional, covers stigma, among other subjects. It is so important to involve and include people with lived experience as we proceed.

My apologies. I say to the member that I would have let her in—no problem.

Finally, destigmatisation is an absolutely key measure in helping people on the first steps towards treatment. Once again, I welcome the report and all the work of the committee members, clerks and panel participants.

Will the member take an intervention?

Good morning. I am interested in how the bill changes the process for creating and approving deer management plans. What will a deer management plan look like?

You mention new sections 6ZA and 6ZB of the 1996 act. I am looking at new section 6A of the 1996 act, which talks about

“the relevant owners and occupiers of a particular area of land”

and about

“requiring those owners or occupiers to prepare and submit a deer management plan”.

Can you clarify that? I am thinking about tenant farmers, who have deer management issues, too. Can you clarify whether the deer management plan notices will be given to all landowners and occupiers, or to landowners or occupiers? Who is responsible for creating a plan, if I am a tenant farmer but it is the landowner who receives the notice?