Sturgeon spends £25m to tackle Scots' alcohol abuse

Health Secretary Nicola Sturgeon is set to unveil a massive increase in funding for alcohol treatment and rehabilitation.

As part of the Scottish Government's plans to tackle alcohol misuse, she will announce a 150 per cent boost in funding for local treatment and education services on alcohol from the current £10 million a year to £25m.

The new money is intended to cut waiting lists for treatment and rehabilitation and ensure services are available to people with alcohol problems across the country. The funding will be channelled through health boards to local Alcohol and Drug Action Teams and will be ring-fenced.

A Scottish Government source said: "We need to put in place investment to deal with this type of deep-seated social problem on a long-term basis.

"There were a number of good initiatives taken under the last administration, but they tended to be dealing with things in a short-term, sticking plaster approach.

"This new money will mean that treatment and rehabilitation services for people with alcohol problems will more than double.

"The Government believes tackling alcohol misuse is the greatest public health challenge facing Scotland and this new money for Alcohol and Drug Action Teams is part of meeting that challenge."

Earlier this year, Tom Wood, head of Action on Alcohol and Drugs In Edinburgh, spoke out after figures showed people with alcohol problems were having to wait an average of eight weeks to get treatment from an agency - twice as long as drug-users had to wait. He called at the time for urgent investment to end 30 years of insufficient funds for alcohol support services.

Alcohol Focus Scotland said the money Ms Sturgeon is set to allocate would help implement plans to tackle alcohol misuse first outlined more than five years ago.

A spokeswoman said: "This is very, very welcome and overdue. We believe there has not been enough money going into alcohol treatment."

She said the Plan for Action on Alcohol Problems had been published in 2002, outlining proposals for prevention and education, reducing waiting times and improving access to rehabilitation services, but many of these were still waiting to be implemented.

The Government will be publishing the NHS's long term strategy for tackling alcohol misuse in spring 2008.

But Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill has already proposed a ban on cut-price promotions in off-licences, urged tough action on licensed premises which sell to under-age drinkers and persuaded MSPs to back stricter controls on the display of alcohol in shops and supermarkets.

Scotsman