Chamber and committees

Thank you, Jeremy. We will take questions from Pam Duncan-Glancy before we move on to the next theme.

Susan Douglas-Scott has a follow-up to that.

James, do you have anything further?

Emily, would you like to follow up on that?

Whom are you directing that question to, Foysol?

Emily Johnston wants to come in first, and then I will bring in Jonathan Senker.

In recent years, drug misuse deaths have increased in all age groups except for those under 25, although, as the minister said, the figure for that group is still too high. Does that offer any hope that preventative or early intervention measures are working or starting to work? Do we have any data on drug use in the 15 to 24 age group or about the drugs that are being used by those people in comparison to any other age group? Does the minister feel that enough work is being done to distinguish between the different age groups, the kinds of drugs that are being used and the frequency of use? That information is vital for education and for the early intervention measures that we have discussed.

Thank you, convener, and thank you for letting me join the meeting. Good morning to the minister.

According to the statistics, in 93 per cent of drug deaths, more than one drug was present. I note that the report contains little reference to alcohol. Do we know how regularly alcohol was present with another substance? From my experience, both in my personal life and in dealing with constituents, I know that alcohol often leads to other things. When it comes to measures for prevention and early intervention, what research is being done on the part that alcohol plays in drug misuse or, equally, on those statistics?

I note that the Drug Deaths Taskforce’s final report states that it found

“tentative support ... for ... decriminalisation or a regulated market”,

which have been shown to reduce drug deaths in other countries. Such an approach would allow resources to be better focused and could work to reduce stigma among the general population. Would the Government pursue such an approach if it were possible? Will the minister advise the committee of any discussions that have taken place with her counterparts at Westminster on the issue? The UK Government has recently suggested that it will follow a more punitive approach that could work against the public health approach that we are taking here in Scotland

To ask the Scottish Government how measures set out in the NHS recovery plan will support innovation and capacity in diagnostics for thrombosis. (S6O-01602)