SCOTLAND and Inverclyde has lost too many young lives to addiction.

The tragic nature of addiction makes the lack of progress so frustrating.

Faced with the scale of the problem, and with so many people parked on methadone the Scottish Government, with the support of the Scottish Parliament, produced just over six years ago a new strategy entitled Road to Recovery — but progress has been very slow.

Drug deaths remain very high in Inverclyde Royal Hospital alone. There were over 300 visits to their Accident & Emergency Department last year. This is not just an issue that affects Inverclyde, it is reflected right across the country.

The percentage of people saying that drug dealing/drug abuse, highlighted by the Greenock Telegraph, is either very or fairly common in their area since the government published its strategy has remained relatively static. Indeed, in the most recent survey 44% of people interviewed said this was the case.

The number of incidences of drug possession in Scotland recorded by the police has also remained roughly the same, with 29,000 recorded in the last financial year alone.

And the number of hospital drug-related discharges has remained stubbornly high with over 5,000 in 2012/13.

These statistics show that we have a long way to go before we put Scotland back on the Road to Recovery.

The Scottish Government must match it’s rhetoric on this issue and act not only for the individuals whose lives who are ruined by drug misuse, but for the families who suffer at the hands of addiction and the communities that have to contend with the crime and anti-social behaviour that it creates.