Scotland’s Addiction Crisis: Why the Right to Recovery Bill is Being Drowned in Delays and Empty Promises

Anne Marie Ward

Scottish Government is doing everything it can to KILL our BILL despite huge public support

The Scottish Government's memorandum on the Right to Recovery Bill presents itself as a serious commitment to tackling Scotland's devastating addiction crisis. But let’s take a closer look, what we find is a document filled with delays, vague promises, and a stubborn refusal to embrace real solutions. Instead of urgency and clarity, we get aspirational statements with no concrete action.

Time and again, the government points to ongoing reviews, future frameworks, and stakeholder consultations, classic tactics used to delay real progress. And their focus? Still stuck on harm reduction, with no real plan to expand access to rehab and long-term recovery support. The refusal to provide legally enforceable rights to recovery speaks volumes. It’s part of a bigger pattern of political avoidance, short-term fixes over sustainable solutions.

Despite record-breaking drug-related deaths, the government keeps prioritising harm reduction over meaningful recovery pathways. This isn’t working, and we need to call it out. Scotland’s addiction crisis won’t be solved by doing more of the same. It’s time to challenge the government’s narrative and demand a legally protected right to recovery—one that guarantees access to effective treatment and rehab services.

A Strategy of Delay, Distract, and Diminish

Time and again, the government leans on ongoing reviews, future frameworks, and stakeholder consultations—classic tactics designed to delay genuine progress. The focus remains on harm reduction, with no substantial plan to expand access to rehabilitation and long-term recovery support. The refusal to enshrine a legally enforceable right to recovery speaks volumes, revealing a broader pattern of political avoidance that prioritises short-term fixes over sustainable solutions.

Despite record-breaking drug-related deaths, the government continues to prioritise harm reduction over meaningful recovery pathways. This status quo is failing, and it's time to challenge the government's narrative and demand a legally protected right to recovery—one that guarantees access to effective treatment and rehabilitation services.

Bureaucratic Red Tape: Burying the Bill

Despite overwhelming public support for the Right to Recovery Bill, the government is stalling it under layers of bureaucracy. They point to existing policies (Memorandum, Sections 8-14) to create the illusion of action while avoiding real reform.

Key takeaway: The government is drowning the bill in red tape instead of ensuring real access to recovery services.

Stakeholder Bias: An Echo Chamber of Harm Reduction Advocates

The stakeholder list is dominated by organisations with a vested interest in harm reduction, all of which actively advocate for policies that prioritise decriminalisation and drug market regulation over true recovery pathways. This narrow focus is deeply concerning, as it shuts out diverse voices advocating for recovery-focused change.

• Release: Advocates for the complete removal of criminal sanctions for drug possession, effectively promoting widespread decriminalisation.
• Cranstoun: Pushes for decriminalisation under the guise of “social reform” around substance use, failing to prioritise long-term recovery solutions.
• Transform Drug Policy Foundation: Driven solely by an agenda to legalise and regulate drug markets, with no emphasis on recovery or rehabilitation.
• International Drug Policy Consortium (IDPC): Promotes human rights-based drug policy changes that align with harm reduction but lack a recovery-oriented perspective.
• Global Commission on Drug Policy: Advocates for fully regulated drug markets, further entrenching policies that do little to break cycles of addiction.

Key takeaway: The Scottish Government’s engagement with these organisations signals a dangerous but ongoing shift towards policies that normalise and ultimately seek to legalise drug use, rather than offering genuine support for individuals seeking to reclaim their lives. By taking these organisations seriously while excluding recovery-focused voices, the government is steering Scotland further away from solutions that work.

Overemphasis on “Rights” Without Substance

The government’s National Collaborative Charter of Rights sounds great—but it’s just words without legal teeth (Memorandum, Section 9). Without enforceable rights, these commitments are meaningless. FAVOR UK’s 2018/19 UK Recovery Declaration already proved that fine words aren’t enough; legal enforcement is needed to drive real change.

If the government truly supported recovery, they’d enshrine it in law, just like the Right to Recovery Bill proposes.

Financial Obstructionism: Inflating Costs to Undermine the Bill

Here’s another trick—they’re inflating the costs of implementing the bill while ignoring the long-term savings (Memorandum, Sections 16-22). Meanwhile, millions are spent annually on harm reduction strategies that aren’t delivering results.

They exaggerate recovery costs while ignoring the financial and human costs of the current failing system.

Questioning the Rehab Figures: A Call for Transparency

The memorandum claims that 1,000 individuals now access residential rehab annually (Section 28), presenting this as a significant achievement. However, with fewer than 140 publicly funded beds available, the numbers don’t seem to add up. This raises an important question: Are short stays—often less than six weeks—sufficient to support long-term recovery?

The established evidence base strongly suggests otherwise. Extensive research demonstrates a clear link between longer treatment durations and improved recovery outcomes. According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), individuals typically require at least three months in treatment to effectively reduce or cease drug use, with longer stays yielding even better results.

Supporting this, a study by Vista Research Group found that patients who remain in treatment for extended periods have significantly higher success rates in maintaining long-term sobriety. Furthermore, research published in the Journal of Substance Abuse Treatment highlights that extended stays in outpatient drug-free programs are linked to positive post-treatment outcomes, including reductions in unemployment and criminal activity.

These findings make one thing clear: sustained engagement in treatment is vital for long-term recovery. The emphasis must shift from short-term placements to evidence-based durations that allow individuals the time they need to build a solid foundation for a drug-free future.

Key takeaway: Scotland's developing habit of short-term placements alone is setting people up to fail and falls well short of the evidence base of delivering sustainable recovery outcomes. Greater transparency is needed to ensure the system is genuinely supporting those in need with adequate time and resources.

Excuses for Inaction: Hiding Behind Uncertainty

The government says it’s too complex to estimate demand and guarantee timely access to treatment (Memorandum, Sections 20-21). Convenient excuse, isn’t it? This avoids accountability and firm commitments.

If they were serious about tackling addiction, they’d focus on solutions, not excuses.

The Timing Tactic: Strategic Stalling to Kill the Bill

By constantly referencing future frameworks and upcoming reports (Memorandum, Sections 10-12), the government is buying time—weakening public momentum and avoiding real change.

The longer they stall, the more people die without access to proper treatment.

Contradictions in The Scottish Government’s Position

• Evidence: The government claims they support the Bill’s aims (Section 7) while simultaneously outlining reasons why they believe current efforts are sufficient.
• Argument: Their actions contradict their words; if they truly supported the Bill, they would embrace it instead of focusing on bureaucratic barriers.
• Key takeaway: The government is paying lip service to recovery without taking concrete steps to implement it.

Ignoring Public Support for the Bill

• Evidence: The consultation results (Section 5) show that 78% of respondents were supportive of the Bill in some form.
• Argument: The government is disregarding overwhelming public support and instead leaning on bureaucratic justifications to stall its progress.
• Key takeaway: Public support is being sidelined in favour of political and financial maneuvering.
• The Timing Tactic: Strategic Stalling to Kill the Bill By continuously referencing upcoming frameworks and future reports (Memorandum, Sections 10-12), the government is strategically delaying legislative action to weaken public momentum.
• Public Accountability: Who is Really in Control? By shifting responsibility to local authorities and third-sector groups (Memorandum, Sections 42-43), the government is avoiding direct accountability for the drug crisis.
• Instead of clear leadership, they continue to push responsibility down the chain, ensuring no one is truly held accountable.
• ?A Government More Concerned with Optics Than OutcomesThe Scottish Government’s response to the Right to Recovery Bill is filled with jargon, financial scare tactics, and vague commitments. They are more concerned with appearing proactive than actually delivering life-saving change.

The Focus on Harm Reduction Over Recovery

Once again, the government emphasises harm reduction—naloxone, methadone (Memorandum, Sections 27-29)—instead of providing real pathways to freedom from addiction.

The government is keeping people stuck in the delusion of trying to manage addiction rather than investing in real recovery solutions.

Scotland Deserves Better

The so-called "rights" the government promotes are toothless because they lack legal enforceability. Existing rights—like access to treatment—are often aspirational, subject to policy discretion, and ultimately ineffective.

The Right to Recovery Bill would change this by creating a legally enforceable framework, guaranteeing access to treatment and recovery services as a statutory right. Unlike the government’s vague promises, the Bill ensures real action—giving individuals the power to demand the help they need.

Without legal mechanisms, individuals can’t demand treatment, hold providers accountable, or challenge denial of support.

Scotland Needs the Right to Recovery Bill

The Right to Recovery Bill is essential to bridging the gaps and providing real, legally protected access to recovery services. It’s time to move beyond empty promises and deliver meaningful solutions to Scotland’s addiction crisis.

The memorandum on the Right to Recovery Bill is from the Scottish Government and is addressed to the Health, Social Care and Sport Committee of the Scottish Parliament. This committee is responsible for scrutinising the bill and making recommendations regarding its implementation. The memorandum outlines the government's position, concerns, and suggested approaches to addressing addiction in Scotland, focusing on harm reduction strategies while resisting legally enforceable recovery rights. You can read the memorandum from the Scottish Gov to the health committee in charge of the bill below at the link

https://www.parliament.scot/-/media/files/committees/finance-and-public-administration-committee/correspondence/2025/r2rbillfm_cabsechealthtoconvener_7jan25.pdf