Borders parliamentarians are urging the SNP Government to back their party's plans for a Right to Recovery Bill.
Rachael Hamilton MSP and John Lamont MP calls comes after 'horrifying and heart-breaking' statistics showed a record number of drug deaths were recorded in Scotland for the seventh year in a row.
A total of 1,339 people lost their lives to drugs in Scotland in 2020, including 18 in the Borders.
Their thoughts are with the friends and families of those who are grieving the loss of a loved one.
The Scottish figures are more than three and a half times that of anywhere else in the UK and the worst in Europe.
The Scottish Conservatives Right to Recovery would enshrine in law that everyone who needs treatment can get it and has been backed by frontline organisations.
Drug deaths have risen by 64% since 2014 in the Borders, when Nicola Sturgeon became First Minister and since 2007, when the SNP came to power, they have risen by 350%.
Both Borders politicians say the SNP Government must take urgent action now and that the drugs death is spiralling out of control year on year.
Rachael Hamilton MSP, said:
"These statistics are truly horrifying and heart-breaking.
"My thoughts are with anyone in the Borders who is grieving the loss of a loved one as a result of drugs.
"We need to see the SNP Government take urgent action now. With each passing year the drugs crisis is spiralling out of control.
"The Scottish Conservatives Right to Recovery Bill would guarantee in law the right to treatment for those who need it and is backed by multiple frontline organisations.
"I would urge local SNP representatives to back these plans. This crisis won't end overnight, but a guaranteed right to recovery would be a step in the right direction.
"The system is broken and drug deaths have skyrocketed in recent years across the Borders. I will continue to push for a Right to Recovery to be introduced as a matter of urgency."
John Lamont MP said:
“These numbers have grown every year for the last seven and behind them are families devastated by loss. This effects every community in Scotland including here in the Borders.
“Sadly, we hear many in the SNP blame Westminster drug laws for the huge crisis here in Scotland. But that does not explain why deaths are three and half times lower elsewhere in the UK when the drug laws are the same.
“The drugs crisis is our national shame. It is a stain on Scotland that so many of our most vulnerable people have been left without hope, crushed by a system that is thoroughly broken.
“The Scottish Government need to get behind our Right to Recovery Bill which has the backing of frontline charities and experts.”
