Church Drying Out Centre Struggles With Rise in Alcohol Abuse

A church-run drying out centre in the Highland city of Inverness is struggling to cope with the increasing demand for its bed spaces as the problem of alcohol abuse continues to grow.

|TOP|The admission comes after the city’s police expressed their alarm over the growing number of cases of drunk and incapable people detained after being found on the streets of the city.

Last Monday alone, ten people were detained by police in separate incidents across the city after being found by police to be so drunk that they were unable to care for themselves. The high number on a weekday shocked even experienced local policemen, Highland News reported.

Chief inspector of operations for Inverness area command, Donald Buntain, called for more to be done than simply locking up drunks in cells while expressing his alarm that so many incidents had taken place on a weekday rather than at the weekend.

"It is a reflection of how serious the problem of alcohol abuse has become."

Chief Inspector Buntain said: "There has been a noticeable increase in the amount of cases dealt with by the police where people have been so drunk they cannot care from themselves properly.

"To have 10 people detained as a result of consuming excessive amounts of alcohol in a 24-hour period is shocking enough. But when you discover this was a Monday and not during the weekend, it makes it even more startling.

|QUOTE|"It doesn't mean that 10 were the only drunk and incapable folk that day. It just means these were the ones who didn't have anyone to care for them and get them home safely."

Inverness police send the drunk and incapable that they find on the streets of the city to the drug and alcohol rehabilitation centre Beechwood House, run by the Church of Scotland and part funded by Highland Council.

Ch Insp Buntain said, however, that if Beechwood House was full then the police had to take them to the cells for their own protection.

He reported that the number of alcohol abuse cases had risen over the span of his career.

"I have been a policeman for 30 years and watched the amount of cases dealt with by the police increase gradually, and it is now a serious public issue.

"The police have a legal obligation to protect life and property, and if we didn't pick up these folk and make sure they didn't choke on their own vomit then we would have failed them.

|AD|"However, it is my view that a night in the cells is not the proper place to send people who have had far too much to drink. It is a misuse of the criminal justice system by jailing people and a waste of the procurator fiscal's time.

"Society needs to look for a solution to this problem and find a way to deal with it instead of locking people up and imposing sanctions. These people need help, and intervention has to come sooner rather than later."

The rise in drunks comes as Beechwood House, the area’s only drying out centre, admitted it has been full on a dozen occasions over the summer already.

The rehabilitation centre offers shelter to the city’s drunks through its four acute beds for overnight stays that are at the disposal of police and other authorities to send those drunk beyond the ability to take care of themselves.

The facility also has four longer-term beds for people to stay up to two weeks. During this time they can receive counselling and use the time to reflect on their drinking and their lives. It has an additional 15 long-term rehab beds for more seriously affected guests.

Calum Murray, the church's head of services for addictions, said the centre helps more than 1,000 people every year and is one of only two such facilities in Scotland - the other being in Aberdeen.

"When someone is drunk and incapable, police will phone us to see if we have a bed to spare. In July we had to refuse admissions on five occasions and seven times in June.

"More beds are needed and if we had the funding we could provide them, but the church is already subsidising the service and is in discussions with Highland Council about that.

"Alcohol abuse is a growing problem. The Scottish Executive lays a lot of emphasis on drugs, because they are illegal, but alcohol creates far bigger problems for society.

He added: "We are also seeing more people who have problems with both drugs and alcohol."

Suzy Calder, substance misuse strategy and implementation manager with Highland Drug & Alcohol Action Team, said: "We are all acutely aware of the scale and impact of binge-drinking across Scotland and the Highlands.

"A huge amount of work is being done to encourage people to think more about their behaviour around alcohol. This is not just in relation to health issues - drinking too much on a regular basis potentially affects all aspects of people's lives.

"It is essential that all our relevant partners like police and licensed trade are working together effectively on improving this situation, but people taking personal responsibility for their behaviour when drinking excessively has to be central to reducing the damage caused to everyone by excessive drinking."