The group was delighted that despite not having a constitution its application was successful and a grant enabling the production of three editions of Issues of Substance, was duly received. The group was also funded to produce recruitment leaflets and a handbook on safer drug use written by drug users for drug users. Clearly Chemical Reaction do not view themselves purely as a user involvement group. The group believes that 'user involvement' is a process carried out by drug user groups, but that drug user groups should not and indeed need not to be limited in what they can achieve. Through the experience gained and the confidence engendered amongst the group it was able to gradually broaden its horizons and extend its work into areas it would not initially have considered venturing into.
Advocacy is another important area of work for the group.
For some time Chemical Reaction has been taking issue with a chemist who had insisted that people being prescribed methadone must carry an ID card when they are picking up their medication. The SCCL did consider the measure a breach of civil liberties. However the chemist retains the support of the Pharmaceutical Council and Lothian Health's Pharmaceutical Officer, and refuses to reconsider the practice. Having failed in that instance Chemical Reaction demonstrated that it did not hold grudges and has recently added its support to chemists following the issue of a Scottish Office directive which cut the dispensing fee for instalment supply of medication. Chemical Reaction supported the chemists by writing to the Public Health Policy Unit at the Scottish Office pointing out in clear terms the detrimental effects such a cut would have on the health of many drug users.