SNP backbencher and former GP Ian McKee has called for a rethink of government policy linking drug and alcohol abuse.
The Lothians MSP believes Scotland's network of Alcohol and Drug Action Teams has led to a concentration on drugs at the expense of dealing with alcohol.
And he argues there is little logic in bracketing the two together after health chiefs estim
ated only around ten per cent of cases have both drug and alcohol problems.
He said: "Our strategy for dealing with alcohol and drugs is to combine the two – that's why we have Alcohol and Drug Action Teams throughout Scotland.
"But they have concentrated mainly on drugs. And while that's very important, alcohol is probably one of the biggest causes of premature death in Scotland. It deserves a good crack of the whip and I'm worried it doesn't get it.
"Apart from both being addictive habits, they are two very different problems and they deserve individual specialist strategies."
Dr McKee said he had submitted a freedom of information request to NHS Lothian for the percentage of those being treated for drug problems also being treated for an alcohol problem, but it was turned down because the information could not be extracted without undue work.
However, in response to an Evening News inquiry, Fiona Watson, clinical lead for substance misuse with NHS Lothian, said: "Having reviewed the drug service caseload we have found approximately ten per cent have a drug and alcohol problem."
She added: "Services must address the needs of all patients in a holistic way as we are increasingly seeing patients with a range of drug and alcohol issues. The direction of travel is to integrate drug and alcohol services."
Dr McKee said: "We already know the vast majority of people with alcohol problems do not have a drug problem.
"We now know in Lothian only ten per cent of people with a drug problem also have an alcohol problem. That's a very tenuous link and it blows away the idea the two should be linked in Alcohol and Drug Action Teams."
Health Secretary Nicola Sturgeon said the teams were just one part of the Scottish Government's approach to tackling alcohol misuse. And she said the Government was committed to improving alcohol and drugs service delivery.
She said: "We recognise that most individuals with addiction problems require different types of treatment at various times during recovery and we are determined that people have access to all appropriate support, when it is right for them to do so."
Tom Wood, head of Action on Alcohol and Drugs in Edinburgh, said he understood Dr McKee's argument but he believed it was flawed.
He said: "It fails to recognise the read-across between alcohol, drugs, mental health and other social disorders. Drug deaths in Lothian clearly show people are dying from alcohol and a variety of drugs and medical condition associated with the use of both."
He added: "We have to think in a cohesive way and making a false separation is, I think, just mistaken."
The full article contains 515 words and appears in Edinburgh Evening News newspaper.
