Don’t turn your back on drug deaths, Nicola.
That was the message we carried on our front page after the SNP swept to victory in the Scottish Parliament election.
It may be hard to believe but that was more than a year ago now.
That front page came after Nicola Sturgeon admitted in a televised debate that her government took its eye “off the ball” on drug deaths.
It was published just days after a Scots drug policy expert leading the fight against overdoses in the US criticised Scotland’s political leaders for failing to make the crisis a priority.
Newly elected MSPs were being urged to attend a first-of-its-kind summit to find a cross-party consensus on how to address the issue.
Where are we now?
More than a year after Scots again put their trust in Nicola Sturgeon, funding remains “woefully inadequate” and demand “far outstrips” treatment places.
The Drug Deaths Taskforce – set up in response to staggering national fatality rates – warns that “persistent” failures are putting lives at risk. But that is nothing new.
Last month, the chairman of the Dundee Drugs Commission, Dr Robert Peat, spoke of his “despair” at the lack of progress on drug deaths.
A few weeks earlier, the independent chair of the Dundee Alcohol and Drugs Partnership quit amid reports of mounting frustration at the slow pace of change.
The findings of this latest report, written in the wake of deaths of real people – our family, our friends – could not be clearer.
“We believe that change is possible,” it states.
“The evidence is clear and the time for talk is over. It is time for swift and decisive action.”
Change is possible and it must come.
The report calls on Nicola Sturgeon and those at the very top of government to “step up to the plate” – and it is right to do so.
The talking shops have to close. The excuses and delays have to end.
Our communities have been torn apart by the scourge of drug deaths, Ms Sturgeon.
They cannot afford to wait another year for action.
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