The Race for Human Rights team at CEMVO Scotland have been collaborating with Scottish Families Affected by Alcohol and Drugs (SFAD), Scottish Health Action on Alcohol Problems (SHAAP) and the Scottish Recovery Consortium (SRC) to explore substance use and access to recovery services in ethnic minority communities. 

Racialised health inequalities have a wide-ranging impact on health and life outcomes for ethnic minority people in the UK. For example, Black women are three times more likely than white women to die in pregnancy or childbirth in the UK[1]. South Asian people in the UK are almost twice as likely to develop coronary heart disease than white Europeans[2]. In the context of alcohol and drug use and recovery services, research has found that some ethnic minority communities experience high rates of substance use, face additional harms and lack access to addiction treatment services[3]. More research and data are urgently needed to help us understand a clearer picture of how structural inequalities are impacting ethnic minority people accessing and receiving appropriate support services.

Seeking to know more about the experiences of ethnic minority communities and drug or alcohol use, we hosted a roundtable in October 2025. This was attended by representatives from community organisations Boots and Beards, Baba Yangu Foundation, Active Life Club, Jhankar Beats, One Community Scotland, Zam’Munda as well as SFAD, SRC and SHAAP. The roundtable format fostered focused, open conversations on topics including challenges and barriers to accessing support, understandings of human rights in the context of addiction, and what action is needed to move forward. 

[1] MBRRACE-UK (2024) MBRRACE-UK Maternal MAIN Report 2024 V2.0 ONLINE.pdf

[2] British Heart Foundation (2024) South Asians almost twice as likely to develop coronary heart disease than White Europeans – BHF

[3] Alcohol Change UK (2019) Understanding recovery from a family perspective ; UK Addiction Treatment Centres Black communities among most vulnerable to addiction, with lowest support | UKAT blog