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In Glasgow it is estimated that about 10,000 children are directly affected by drug misuse while referrals for children affected by alcohol and drug issues increased by 35 per cent last year.

Recently the Scottish executive launched guidance aimed at ensuring agencies across health, social work and the voluntary sector work together to provide more joined-up responses to adults with drug and alcohol problems. Significantly it also refers to the children who are directly affected. A time bomb is ticking in our inner cities and as the second, and even third, generation of drug addicts comes into view social care must focus on children growing up with the despair of addiction.

The drive to offer treatment to drug offenders is welcome but brings with it the requirement for treatment services to respond accordingly. An effective response means more sophisticated services that engage parents and improve their child care skills.

In Scotland we face issues around the use of opiates and poly-drug use as well as a strong injecting-culture. Nowhere is this more evident than in Glasgow. The council’s own study showed that there are about 15,800 drug users. The study showed, not surprisingly, clear links to poverty and deprivation with 95 per cent of those with the most problematic drug use also living in the areas of highest deprivation.

The Scottish executive estimates that Glasgow has around 25 per cent of all drug misusers in Scotland. Yet the city only received 12 per cent of government funding. And it was only in the last spending review that local authorities north of the border received any specific funding from the Scottish executive for providing services to addicts and their families. While Glasgow welcomed the first allocation, the cash was awarded based on population and not on need. This process fails to recognise the disproportionate impact of drug and alcohol misuse on a major city.

If councils are to have any impact on drug misuse and the accompanying cycle of crime and prostitution we must address the wider family implications of addiction. If councils are to provide effective treatment and rehabilitation programmes then government must fund us accordingly. Drug and alcohol services for families can no longer be viewed as peripheral. This would surely be the recipe for a self-perpetuating sequence of poverty, exclusion and addiction for years to come.

Iona Colvin is principal officer for addiction services at Glasgow Council.