Scottish Social Attitudes Survey 2021/22: Public Attitudes Towards People with Problem Drug Use

Chapter 2 – Attitudes around responsibility for problem drug use (Individual versus Societal)

SSA 2021/22 included three questions examining public attitudes towards the percieved root cause of, and who is considdered responsible for reducing, problem drug use in Scotland. These questions were designed to elicit views on whether problem drug use is largely as a result of specific societal factors, or whether they are due to decision making by an individual, which likely impacts upon compassion and stigma toward people with problem drug use.

This chapter explores the following questions around public attitudes towards people with problem drug use:

'How much do you agree or disagree that 'Most people who use heroin come from difficult backgrounds'?'

'Do you agree or disagree that 'Most people who have a drug problem have only themselves to blame'?'

'Do you agree or disagree that 'It's in all our interests to give help and support to people who have a drug problem'?'

This chapter analyses the people's responses to these questions and provides a comparison with 2009 findings where available, alongside a breakdown of responses by various demographic and attitudinal sub-groups.

Perceptions of individual versus societal responsibility for problem drug use

Respondents were asked the extent to which they agreed or disagreed with the statement 'Most people who use heroin come from difficult backgrounds', to gauge the extent to which people in Scotland felt that problem drug use occurs due to issues outwith the control of the individual. Half (50%) of people interviewed said that they either 'agree strongly' or 'agree' that most of those who use heroin come from difficult backgrounds, while just over a quarter (27%) said that they either 'disagree' or 'disagree strongly' with the statement (see Figure 1).

The question on whether most people who use heroin come from difficult backgrounds was previously included on SSA in 2009^[33]. During this time, attitudes appear to have shifted notably on whether heroin use stems from societal causes. While in 2009, just under three in ten (29%) agreed that 'most people who use heroin come from difficult backgrounds', this proportion rose to a half (50%) in 2021/22. Meanwhile, despite over half (53%) disagreeing that 'most people who use heroin come from difficult backgrounds' in 2009, the proportion who disagreed with this statement in 2021/22 fell to just 27%.

To gauge the extent to which the public feel that problem drug use is the result of individual decision making, respondents were also asked whether they agreed or disagreed with the statement 'Most people who have a drug problem have only themselves to blame'^[34]. While just under one in five (19%) said that they either 'agree strongly' or 'agree' that most people with problem drug use are individually responsible, over three times this proportion (62%) said that they either 'disagree' or 'disagree strongly' with the statement that most people with problem drug use have only themselves to blame (see Table 1).

How do attitudes vary between sub-groups?

There were differences in how the pattern of responses to each of these items varied by societal sub-group. While the only statistically significant variance in opinion towards whether 'most people who use heroin come from difficult backgrounds' occurred by age (72% of those aged 16-34 agreed with this statement compared with just 35% of those aged 65 and over), views on whether those with problem drug use 'have only themselves to blame' differed by a number of key demographic and attitudinal factors. Nearly a quarter (24%) of men thought that those with problem drug use 'have only themselves to blame', compared with 15% of women. People with no formal educational qualifications were more likely to agree with this statement than those with at least a degree-level qualification (56% compared with 15%). People who had never taken drugs were more likely to agree that those with problem drug use 'have only themselves to blame' than those who had at some point taken drugs themselves (23% compared with 9%).

There was an association between perceptions of blame and whether 'its in all of our interests to help' people with problem drug use. People who disagreed that 'it's in all our interests to help' those with problem drug use (74%) were more likely than those who agreed (15%) with this perspective to agree that people with problem drug use 'have only themselves to blame'.

Attitudes towards whether it is in all our interests to help people with problem drug use

Having gauged opinion on the extent to which problem drug use is seen as an individual's choice, SSA 2021/22 presented its respondents with a statement designed to explore attitudes towards giving help and support to people dealing with problem drug use:

'It's in all our interests to give help and support to people who have a drug problem'

As Figure 2 illustrates, a large majority either 'agreed' or 'agreed strongly' with this statement. Over nine in ten (91%) 'agreed' or 'strongly agreed' that 'it's in all our interests to give help and support to people who have a drug problem,'whilst only 5% neither agreed nor disagreed with this and 4% 'disagreed' or 'disagreed strongly.'

How do attitudes vary between sub-groups?

There were few differences between subgroups on attitudes towards helping people with problem drug use. Variance could however be seen according to whether or not the public felt that people experiencing this issue 'have only themselves to blame'. Among those who disagreed that people with problem drug use have only themselves to blame, 97% felt that 'it's in all our interests' to help people with problem drug use, while among those who agreed that people with problem drug use were individually responsible, the equivalent proportion was 72%.

Meanwhile, attitudes towards whether it is in society's best interests to help people with problem drug use also differed by personal experience with drugs, with those who had tried drugs at some point in their life more likely than those who had never tried drugs to agree that 'it's in all our interests' to help people with problem drug use (94% compared with 89%).