Feeding Off The Poor: In Conversation with AnneMarie Ward on Scotland's Addiction Crisis

I was delighted to meet with

Annemarie Ward

, Director of Faces and Voices of Recovery (FAVOR UK) and tireless advocate for individuals and families impacted by addiction for today’s podcast on Scottish Governments devastating policies around addiction. I think this conversation is so important as it encapsulates quite viscerally how toxic empathy destroys lives and communities. And it’s undermining the very bedrock of Scottish society.

The bigotry of low expectations is something that has come up a lot in conversations recently and no where is it more apparent than in the devastating stats around drug deaths in Scotland, and the government response.

Some will be aware of the catastrophic number of individuals who have died as a result of addiction in Scotland.

“Drug deaths have increased substantially over the last 20 years, with almost five times as many deaths in 2020 compared to 2000. In 2020, 1,339 drug-related deaths were registered in Scotland: 5 per cent more than in 2019 and the largest number since records began in 1996. Scotland’s drug death rate is the highest in Europe and over three and a half times as large as the rest of the UK.” - Carlton Brick (writing for

Joanna Williams

CEIO)

It is breathtaking to think that a country that promotes itself as being ‘the most kind’, ‘caring about the vulnerable the most’ can have such a statistic. These are not just numbers- these are people’s lives. In October it was reported that 600 children lost their parent to addiction in one year. The fallout is immeasurable.

Scotland controversially opening a ‘safe consumption room’ in the East End of Glasgow earlier in the year. Like the trans argument, ‘it’s better to have an alive ‘daughter’ than a dead son’, it plays upon people’s emotions in order to allow an even more dystopian future.

The idea is that it’s ‘better’ to have addicts shoot up in mediated spaces where medical attention is available to them should something go wrong. And they are provided with clean needles. What they do not offer however is… recovery. In that way they normalise addiction. And I don’t think that’s a great thing.

Looking on the image of the centre and I think to myself, ‘is the plan for this to be here in another 10, 20, 50 years time?’. We have libraries, museums and schools from Victorian times which we still benefit from. Is this our legacy for our children, our grandchildren, our future?

The centre is located across the street from the main supermarket in the area, Morrisons. Residents report that the area is littered with dirty needles as individuals soaked in the insatiable mire of addiction seek their next fix. So families have to walk through that landscape in order to do their weekly shop. Is the plan for it to be there in 20 years time? Should the Mamas and Grandads be saying to their charges in tow, ‘that’ll be you in twenty years time’? And it’s not good for those suffering either. It says ‘this is the best you are… in a perpetual state of misery’.

AnneMarie refers to it as Dante’s circles of Hell. Cannot say I disagree with her.

The Divine Comedy Illustrated by Botticelli: Canto XVIII, part of the 8th circle of Hell. 1480-1490s

“If you’re not given the opportunity to be free from the very dependency that is killing you - there is something deeply amoral and unethical about that” (AnneMarie Ward)

As a young thing I remember the idea of ‘decriminalisation’ of drugs being spoken about as something good. To be honest I never gave it much thought. In the 1990s and 2000s much of the chat was evolving around a more libertarian sensibility of ‘individual choice’ being the pinnacle of liberal society. Boy have my ideas changed since then.

There are so many layers and levels to what has happened, what is happening and what needs to be done. What is most apparent to me is that there is no will for addiction to end. Why? The government quangos that manage addiction are employing people whose mortgages depend on the suffering of the poor.

I don’t know anyone else who can speak with such knowledge and compassion on this subject as AnneMarie. Do have a listen. Let’s get better at this. Let’s provide recovery options so that everyone has the opportunity to flourish.

AnneMarie’s Work:

Faces and Voices of Recovery:

https://www.facesandvoicesofrecoveryuk.org

Twitter: https://x.com/Annemarieward

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