The previous two chapters sought to provide a reflective account of gang and youth violence at the turn of the twentieth century, exploring how interventionist strategies, cultural and political changes, contributed to tackling knife crime and violence in Scotland. Drawing predominantly upon the voices of teenagers and young people, this chapter explores the difficulties they face today. In accordance with emergent themes from the data, and given that the Scottish Government, Police Scotland and the National Crime Agency have all highlighted the significant threat posed by drug abuse and serious organised crime related to the illegal supply of narcotics, it was perhaps not surprising to find drug supply, and drug misuse, at the forefront of the young people's narratives. Therefore, this chapter explores drug supply and the impact on young people, as well as their own descriptions of their roles in drug distribution networks.

Introduction

Building upon insights that looked at the implantation of the public health approach as a means of effectively tackling Scotland's gang problem, the previous two chapters drew upon the voices of ex-offenders and practitioners. Doing so enabled a periodic comparative analysis that explored the true impact from the perspectives of those involved in and addressing gang and youth violence in the west of Scotland. Discussing what life was like prior to, during and immediately after the implementation of the public health approach to violence prevention, Chapter 4 demonstrated the way immersion in interventions with a focus on inclusion, support and compassion supported desistance journeys. We also noted adult participants’ views on the significant shift in gang structure and organisation in the west of Scotland, from activities rooted in primarily territorial issues to ones based on drug distribution, supply and use. Whereas in 2004, Scotland was infamously dubbed the ‘murder capital of Europe’ (McEachran, 2003), by 2015 the media declared that Scotland had beaten the gangs as violence and knife crime had declined. However, in 2019 Scotland was named the ‘drug capital of Europe’ (BBC News, 2019), with more drug-related deaths than any other European country (BBC News, 2019), with these numbers growing still further in 2020 (National Records of Scotland, 2020, 2021; see discussion, Chapter 3). Thus, while the nation had apparently ‘beaten’ territorial street gangs, drugs were seen as the new battlefront.