Drugs Misuse

Part of the debate – in the Scottish Parliament at 3:33 pm on 27 October 2004.

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Photo of Mary Mulligan Mary Mulligan Labour 3:33, 27 October 2004

I welcome the Minister for Justice's statement. I very much welcome her announcement of the seized assets community fund and know of a number of community groups, particularly one that supports families in the Armadale area of my constituency, that would be prime candidates for such funding. Perhaps I will speak to her about that later.

I acknowledge that the minister has accepted that there are certain gaps in the service and welcome her commitment to address some of them. Like Margaret Smith, I was recently told of a situation in which prisoners who had been going through a rehabilitation programme were released from prison on a Friday evening but could not make contact with the support services in the community until the following Monday. That is not the month-long gap to which Margaret Smith referred, but it is a long enough period for somebody in such difficult circumstances to find that they are vulnerable and be tempted to go back on the good progress that they have made, so it would be beneficial to address small gaps like that.

I support the work that is being done for the children of drug-abusing parents. We are all aware of the difficulties that some agencies have had in coming together to deal with issues. However, progress has been made, and I welcome the minister's commitment to make further progress.

The minister covered the importance of stopping drugs reaching our communities, and I support that. I am aware that the police work closely with others, in particular customs officers, to prevent drugs from hitting our streets, but perhaps we should consider the step before that: production. What discussions, if any, has the minister had with Westminster colleagues about approaches to other Governments about production?

A number of constituents of mine recently returned from a visit to Afghanistan and informed me of the increase in poppy production there—I am sure that other members are equally aware of that. We all know that Afghanistan has come through a turbulent period. Although the recent elections there are welcome, no one can say that life is yet easy for the people of Afghanistan or for their new Government. However, we cannot allow the huge increase in the poppy crop to go unchallenged. Undoubtedly, unscrupulous people stand to make money from exploiting Afghan farmers and distributing misery on our streets. In the context of the collaboration to which the minister referred, what role can the Scottish Executive play, working with Westminster colleagues and other Governments, to tackle the supply of drugs in our communities?