That the Parliament welcomes the publication of the report, Time for Kindness, Compassion and Hope: The Need for Action Two Years On, by the Dundee Drugs Commission; thanks the Commission for its work in the production of both of its reports; is grateful to everyone who brought witness and testimony to this work from lived experience and frontline service provision; believes that testimony will have been incredibly difficult to deliver for many of the witnesses; understands that, despite the urgent recommendations in the first report, Dundee continues to have a very high level of drugs deaths by national and international comparisons; notes with concern what it sees as the failure to sufficiently progress the recommendations of the original report by all agencies in Dundee; further notes support for the recommendations of the Commission, which include an urgent health needs assessment for drug users, the wholesale reform of substance misuse, and recovery services that move away from a punitive medicalised model to a community facing system of care; is concerned by the report's conclusion that "the scale of the challenge to turn the situation around hasn’t been fully appreciated" by local leadership, and notes the calls for the full adoption of the recommendations with a specific delivery plan from the Dundee Partnership.
Supported by:
Claire Baker, Ariane Burgess, Finlay Carson, Maggie Chapman, Foysol Choudhury, Pam Duncan-Glancy, Stephen Kerr, Pauline McNeill, Carol Mochan, Paul O'Kane, Willie Rennie, Paul Sweeney, Mercedes Villalba, Sue Webber, Tess White, Martin Whitfield