DOUGLAS Ross has claimed Joe FitzPatrick's resignation as Public Health Minister over Scotland's drugs deaths crisis "changes nothing".
The Scottish Tory leader spoke out after FitzPatrick announced he is quitting his role after facing mounting pressure opposition parties who criticised his leadership of plans to combat the issue.
READ MORE: Joe FitzPatrick resigns as Public Health Minister over drugs death crisis
Angela Constance has been appointed as a dedicated minister for drugs policy, while a new public health minister will be nominated on Monday.
Ross said "After 13 years of failure, no-one can have any confidence in Nicola Sturgeon's disastrous drugs strategy and the resignation of her public health minister changes nothing.
“If this was about the shocking number of drug related deaths this year, he would have gone on the day the numbers were released."
FitzPatrick was under pressure after the National Records of Scotland revealed that 1264 people had died drug-related deaths in Scotland in 2019, up 6% on the previous year.
Nearly seven in 10 of those who died last year were male and more than two-thirds were aged 35–54.
According to the NRS, Scotland’s drug-death rate was higher than those reported for all the EU countries and was approximately three and a half times that of the UK as a whole.
Ross went on: “The families of the 1264 people who lost their lives in the last year to drugs will take little comfort in his resignation."
“They are more interested in how we have reached this shameful position after more than 13 years of the SNP being in power, with Nicola Sturgeon in charge of health for much of that.
"We urged the First Minister to agree to our proposed £20 million funding for rehabilitation but got no commitment. All the focus must be on the urgent public health crisis of Scotland's drugs deaths epidemic so we can finally start to reverse the tragic number of lives being lost from drugs."
Announcing his resignation, FitzPatrick said: "It has been the privilege of my life to serve in the Scottish Government and, during that time, the most heart-breaking and difficult problems I have faced as Public Health Minister is the harms and deaths caused by drug use.
“I have worked with families who have felt the burden and weight of grief from drug use. I want to thank them for their candour and the amazing efforts they make to try and make our country better and safer for all.
“As the minister responsible for this area I, ultimately, take my responsibility. It is clear that my presence as a minister will become a distraction, when we should be focused on achieving the change we need to save lives.
“There is nothing I can express that will ease the loss that so many families have felt due to a death from drugs use. I can only say how sorry I am for their loss, and that hearing the experiences of the families and the recovery communities will never leave me.”
IN FULL: Joe FitPatrick's full statement on quitting over drug deaths
First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said: “I thank Joe for his work as a minister and the service he has given to Government over the last eight years, firstly as Minister for Parliamentary Business and then as Minister for Public Health.
“While the time has now come to make a change in the public health brief, no one should doubt Joe’s hard work, dedication and sincerity. He will continue to champion the interests of his constituents at Holyrood, and I wish him well in the future.”
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