The Drugs Policy Unit (DPU) works with Ministers and colleagues across the Scottish Government to:
- Establish and maintain the strategic and policy framework that enables key partners across Scotland to contribute most effectively to achieving specific national outcomes
- Where appropriate, give partners the assistance they need to contribute effectively
- Ensure that the Government as a whole contributes effectively to achieving these outcomes
- Work with partners across the Government to contribute to the wider achievement of the full range of national outcomes.
As well as the overarching purpose of Government (to create a more successful country, with opportunities for all of Scotland to flourish, through increasing sustainable economic growth) the outcomes of particular relevance to the Unit are as follows:
- We live longer, healthier lives;
- We realise our full economic potential with more and better employment opportunities for our people;
- We live our lives safe from crime, disorder and danger;
- We have tackled the significant inequalities in Scottish society
One way of measuring our success in doing this is set out in one of the Government's 45 indicators of progress towards national policy outcomes - "decrease the number of problematic drug misusers by 2011."
Many of our stakeholders work outwith the Scottish Government. We work openly and proactively with colleagues in local government, NHS health boards, Alcohol and Drug Action Teams (ADATs), the Scottish Prison Service (SPS) and the Scottish Crime and Drug Enforcement Agency (SCDEA). We also work with colleagues in the voluntary sector and representative bodies. We work particularly closely with our expert advisory committee, the Scottish Advisory Committee on Drug Misuse (SACDM) and their sub-groups, including the Delivery Reform Group, to ensure that their advice is properly fed into the work of Government.