Scotland - VSA

20 September, 2006 in VSA

From the BBC in Scotland:

Glue-sniffing and other forms of solvent abuse are being overlooked in the fight against drugs, according to a new report. The authors said the problem, which was discussed at length in the 1970s and 1980s, was now poorly understood among professionals and the public. They claimed more consultative work with former solvent abusers was needed.

In England the Department of Health have developed a cross departmental framework which looks at how central government in England wants to take forward action on VSA, particularly as it affects children and young people. The Drug Education Forum is amongst a number of organisations who sit on the steering group for set up by the Department of Health.

The Department also funds the research at St George’s tracking VSA deaths, who’s work does cover Scotland (only one death last year, down from a high of 10 in 1998).

The latest ACMD report, Pathways to Problems, has this to say about Volatile Substance Abuse:

Volatile substance abuse (VSA) has been of particular concern over the past 20 years because of the large numbers of sudden deaths, particularly among teenagers. In 1991, VSA caused more deaths among 10–18-year-olds in the UK than leukaemia or drowning. In 1992, a national advertising campaign about the dangers of VSA was initiated and other measures to restrict access to solvents by under-18s were introduced. Since 1992, there has been a marked decline in the annual number of VSA deaths among under-18s but little change among the over-18s. In 2003, there were only four deaths of under-16s compared with 36 in over-16s. Since 1992, the proportion of deaths caused by gas fuels (mainly butane gas for lighters) has increased from 36% to around 70% in 2003 and that of aerosols, glues and other sources has fallen from 64% to around 30%. Twenty-nine of the 35 gas fuel-related deaths in 2003 were among over-18s.

The ACMD go on to recommend to the DTI that “butane lighter fuels should be made impracticable for abuse and all gas fuel containers should carry a prominent safety warning.”

One Reply

  1. Chris Daly

    4 October, 2006 at 10:58 am

    Tackling Volatile Substance Abuse
    A training programme for social work staff in Scotland

    We are now in Year 2 of a 3-year project, funded by the Scottish Executive, with the aim of addressing the low prioritisation and perceived marginality of VSA in the lives of young people in contact with social work departments. The goal is to raise awareness of VSA amongst statutory staff and those dealing with vulnerable young people in looked after situations. The project will develop training resources for social workers about VSA. The materials will be researched through working with groups of social workers and the development of online training will run alongside the development of other conventional training materials. We are also working in collaboration with the Learning Exchange – located in SIESWE (the Scottish Institute for Excellence in Social Work Education) - with the aim of submitting training materials for their interactive library of digital learning resources for social work education (the world’s first).

    The resource is targeted towards staff working directly or indirectly for Social Work Departments, particularly those in children and families teams, but also for staff working in residential care, community support, group-work, and in criminal justice social work, as well as foster carers etc. The project will also address the information needs at strategic, managerial and operational levels within social work in Scotland and the pack will be of equal relevance to many other professionals.

    All Local Authorities in Scotland will have a copy of the training pack and there will be a national promotion and dissemination strategy. It is intended that after undertaking the training there will be increased confidence among staff and others in discussing VSA with young people and hopefully
    more formal policies on VSA in care settings in order to reduce the risk for young people.

    We are currently looking for case studies for potential inclusion in the training pack and opportunities to pilot the training materials and would welcome enquiries from any social work services who would be interested in assisting with these activities.
    For all enquiries, please contact:

    Chris Daly
    Research Officer

    cd@unityprojects.co.uk

    Tel: 01260 299093 (home office)
    http://www.re-solv.org

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