The Pink Elephant
We need to talk about the elephant in the room. A podcast about what's happening in Scotland that no one's talking about. Children, childhood, culture, healthy communities. Kate Deeming developed dance projects for kids globally in educational and community settings for 30 years before being cancelled by the dance sector for questioning the narrow social justice mantras that were being embedded across culture. A long time advocate for children and childhood join Kate as she tries to make sense of the madness and give voice to the voiceless.
The Pink Elephant
18. Feeding Off The Poor: In Conversation with AnneMarie Ward on Scotland's Addiction Crisis
I was delighted to meet with Annemarie Ward, Director of Faces and Voices of Recovery (FAVOR UK) for today’s podcast on Scotland's devastating policies around addiction. I think this conversation is so important as it encapsulates quite viscerally how toxic empathy destroys lives and communities. And it’s undermining the very bedrock of Scottish society.
"While working Class communities keep burying their dead, middle class industries build around their poverty, their illness.”
The bigotry of low expectations is something that has come up a lot in conversations recently and no where is it more apparent than in the devastating stats around drug deaths in Scotland, and the government response.
Some will be aware of the catastrophic number of individuals who have died as a result of addiction in Scotland.
“Drug deaths have increased substantially over the last 20 years, with almost five times as many deaths in 2020 compared to 2000. In 2020, 1,339 drug-related deaths were registered in Scotland: 5 per cent more than in 2019 and the largest number since records began in 1996. Scotland’s drug death rate is the highest in Europe and over three and a half times as large as the rest of the UK.” - Carlton Brick (writing for Joanna Williams CEIO)
There are so many layers and levels to what has happened, what is happening and what needs to be done. What is most apparent to me is that there is no will for addiction to end. Why? The government quangos that manage addiction are employing people whose mortgages depend on the suffering of the poor.
I don’t know anyone else who can speak with such knowledge and passion on this subject as AnneMarie. Do have a listen. Let’s get better at this. Let’s provide recovery options so that everyone has the opportunity to flourish.
AnneMarie Ward:
Faces and Voices of Recovery (FAVOR UK): https://www.facesandvoicesofrecoveryuk.org/
Twitter: @Annemarieward
Thanks for reading and thanks to current subscribers! Subscriptions allow me to continue to spend time reporting on what is happening here in Scotland and how it connects to bigger issues. My writing and podcast work is alongside my advocacy in working directly with parents. As this is entirely reader-supported, with no paywalls your support is what keeps things going. If you enjoyed this post, and would like to see more, please consider…
- Subscribing monthly at Substack (or giving a gift subscription!) (https://deemingdreaming.substack.com)
- Making a one-off contribution via BuyMeACoffee (https://buymeacoffee.com/kateedeeming2)
Read More on my Substack: https://deemingdreaming.substack.com/
Have a Pink Elephant you'd like to discuss? Get in touch! deemingdreaming@gmail.com