Supporting recovery and ending stigma
Successive governments have failed to stand up to corporate interests.
Corporate interests push products that harm our health, placing pressure on
our NHS.
The Scottish Greens will stand up to corporations and tackle unhealthy environments by placing restrictions on marketing of harmful products, making industries pay for the damage that they cause to individuals, communities and society.
We want to protect children and young people from exposure to alcohol marketing. And we believe everyone should be made aware of the risks before they consume alcohol. We will hold the alcohol industry to account for the harm it causes and implement a public health levy, the proceeds of which will be invested into treatment and support services.
Smoking is still one of the leading causes of ill health and death in Scotland, despite recent improvements in smoking rates, and smoking prevalence remains highest in areas of deprivation. We will protect young people from the effects of smoking, ensure people can access support to stop smoking wherever they live and ensure that nicotine cannot be advertised in the form of vapes and nicotine pouches.
People who use illegal drugs are amongst the most marginalised in Scotland. The Westminster government’s drugs laws drive vulnerable people away from the help they need. We commit to providing people with individualised medical, psychological and social care. Following the best evidence, we will expand harm reduction policies, end the criminalisation of drug use and work towards a legal, regulated system of drug supply, removing control of the drugs market from violent, organised criminals.
- Roll out and fully fund safe consumption facilities to wherever there is an issue with public drug use, with Edinburgh and Dundee the next priority following the existing project in Glasgow.
- Roll out confidential drug checking services, heroin assisted treatment and alcohol and drug stabilisation services across Scotland.
- Increase funding for integrated support and treatment services for people with problematic alcohol and other drug use.
- Ensure Naloxone is available to the general public in pharmacies, health centres and all public buildings as well as defibrillator stations.
- Work with the Lord Advocate, Police Scotland and procurators fiscal to reduce the criminalisation of people who use drugs, diverting people away from the criminal justice system and, where necessary towards treatment and social support services.
- Call on the UK Government to devolve powers over drugs legislation to Scotland, so we can work towards decriminalisation, legal regulation, and a full public health approach to drugs.
- Introduce automatic uprating of Minimum Unit Pricing in line with inflation.
- Ban outdoor alcohol advertising and advertising in public spaces, and review the licensing system to ensure over-provision and online sales are taken into account when granting new alcohol licenses.
- Introduce mandatory unit, calorie and ingredient labelling and prominent health warnings on all alcohol products.
- Ban smoking and vaping outside schools and in playparks, and support legislation at a UK wide level to ban advertising and promotions, flavours, colours and branding on all vapes and nicotine pouches.
- Introduce a licensing system for premises selling vaping products, similar to that which covers premises selling alcohol
- Invest in the delivery of smoking prevention and cessation services, and target smoking cessation services in deprived communities which are disproportionately affected by tobacco related health problems.
- Introduce a public health levy to hold tobacco and alcohol companies and supply chain corporations accountable for the damage done by health harming products, with restrictions on price controls so that the financial payment comes from producer and wholesale profits, and not from consumers or retailers.
