Monica Lennon has called for a Scottish Parliament debate on problem drinking.
Monica Lennon at First Minister’s Questions
At First Minister’s Question on 7th September Monica, a Labour list MSP for Central Scotland, brought attention to the stigma that surrounds substance abuse. Monica was spurned to do so following the release of official statistics, and her own experience with her father, which showed that drug and alcohol related deaths in Scotland were at an all-time high. Last year saw an increase in drug related deaths of 23% to 837 whilst deaths attributable to alcohol rose by 10% to 1,265 in the same period.
The Sunday Post has since published an interview with Monica in which she talks candidly about the effects of her father’s alcohol addiction on her, and the rest of the family, as she grew up. Her fear is that too many families suffer in silence whilst onlookers are afraid to intervene when they see a problem.
Sunday Post – Monica Lennon
Monica believes Scotland’s drinking culture needs to be challenged saying:
There is still that thing in Scotland where we press people to have a drink and treat anyone not drinking with slight suspicion.
We need to be more aware of the damage being done by problem drinking and that will only happen when people are comfortable talking about it.
We need to change the conversation around alcohol. There is legislation, policies and funding that can help but the culture has to change.
Too many people are dying and too many children are storing up trauma for years to come, for us to do nothing.
You can read the full interview here.
Monica is also keen to hear your views on how to tackle this problem and can be contacted at Monica.Lennon.msp@parliament.scot or via her Facebook page.
If you are concerned about your own or someone else’s drinking and would like to speak to someone now, call Drinkline on 0800 7 314 314
Well done Monica, very brave.