National Collaborative Call for Evidence – Analysis Report: Experiences of Human Rights in Relation to Substance Use

The National Collaborative is a project that not only aims to empower people affected by substance use but will also set out how the rights to be included in the forthcoming Human Rights Bill can be effectively implemented. It will do this by applying a human-rights based approach to co-design a Charter of Rights. As part of this process, a Call for Evidence was launched to gather views from around Scotland about people’s experiences of substance use and human rights. This brought together people affected by substance use, their families and people working across a wide range of services and ran between May and August 2023. We would like to thank each and every person who took part and contributed their views as well as the groups and organisations who ran sessions and made it all possible. In total, more than 650 people took part in 8 national sessions, 37 community conversations and surveys conducted in-person and on-line. Five of the national sessions were in-depth with a focus on a particular right. The rights included the right to health, the right to the social determinants of health, the right to participation, the right to private and family life and criminal justice related rights. Communities chose whether to focus on these particular rights or have a more general conversation around human rights and substance use. See ‘Acknowledgements’ on p.28. A wide range of experiences and perspectives were gathered. Whilst some issues may have been specific to a locality there were also common themes that run throughout Scotland. See our summary version here. Although it must be recognised that people felt there were many barriers to accessing their rights and being treated with dignity and respect, in many of the conversations there was also a recognition that things have been starting to change for the better and there was often a real sense of hope that further improvements are on their way.