This costs £50,000 per person each year — a total of a staggering £2.6 billion annually. Behind most crime lies abuse of drugs and/or alcohol.

The human cost of lives wasted by drugs is unquantifiable. Those affected will know the hidden costs, of families devastated, careers ruined and young lives potential lost sometimes even before adulthood.

The good news, though, is that recovery can be achieved by many who suffer the tight grip of addiction to hard drugs. The medical guidelines tell us that around three in 10 people entering treatment become abstinent. Other interventions, such as providing or developing skills, or housing, or mental health care, all have a place in the essential care needed for each single human being who misuses drugs.

The new strategy has been my principal ministerial task over the last 12 months. It has been devised after more than 50 meetings with drugs action teams, drugs workers, drugs users, politicians, academics, doctors, pharmacists, charities and councils.

I decided at the outset there would be no party politics brought into the handling of the strategy development and this has perhaps helped in delivering what was a mature, informed debate in Parliament last week, as well as building a cross party consensus of approach.

The local authorities will play a key role as partners, as do key charities, and I worked alongside their representatives too.

However, the real challenge now lies in delivery. A strategy document, no matter how well supported — and its findings have been widely welcomed — is just words on a page. Over the next 12 months, one of my key jobs will be to see the strategy delivered.

One of the first steps taken is to send by post to every family a parents' guide to drugs. My belief is that whilst many adults know much about the effects of abuse of alcohol — not so much is known about drugs. By spelling out the facts to every parent and grandparent we can, I hope, divert some youngsters, children, from the perils of addiction.

Supporting families who have a member with a drug problem is key.

Choices for life

Education of youngsters about making the right choices in life is a key component of the drugs strategy — and the wider message about healthy living.

Last week, I attended an event at the Bught, along with about 600 primary seven boys and girls, to watch an event called "Choices for Life", which is designed to put across these messages in the most effective way.

The event was a combination of theatre, music and dance — including the famous Macdonald brothers — and a kind of mini soap shown on a giant screen, with professional actors showing some youngsters who made the wrong choices. This was one of 12 events around Scotland. It has been led by the Scottish Crime and Drugs Enforcement Agency, alongside Northern Constabulary.

It is a marvellous event, and around 50,000 youngsters making the move from primary to secondary school have seen the show. Myself and other besuited spectators were cajoled into joining in the dancing and singing along with the words, "Lala, lala, lala" and persuaded to wiggle our hips whilst singing, "oooeee, oooeee" etc.

I hope no one captured that movement or moment on video, as, whatever reason Alex Salmond appointed me as his minister for community safety in the Scottish Government, it was most certainly not for my hip-wiggling skills.

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