Scotland’s drug deaths total down for first time in eight years

• The number of people who died as a result of drug abuse in Scotland fell slightly to 1,330 last year. Scotland’s drug misuse rate remains roughly 3.7 times that of the rest of the UK.
• In one year, an addict was saved from overdose nine times. Benzodiazepines, such as diazepam and etizolam, were involved in 69% of drug overdose deaths.
• Former chief inspector of prisons and ex-chief constable of Lothian and Borders Police has called for a “public health approach” to the crisis.

Last year, the number of people who died as a result of drug abuse in Scotland fell slightly to 1,330, the lowest figure in eight years.

According to National Records for Scotland (NRS) statistics, there were nine fewer deaths than the previous year’s total of 1,339 deaths.

However, Scotland continues to have the highest drug death rate of any European country.

Since 2013, the upward trend has been accelerating.

The most recent figure of 1,330 remains the second highest annual total on record, and Scotland’s drug misuse rate remains roughly 3.7 times that of the rest of the UK.

In one year, an addict was saved from overdose nine times.

Drugs chief says punishing addicts must end, calling a £250 million pledge to reduce drug deaths in Scotland a “disgrace.”
Angela Constance, Scotland’s drugs policy minister, said the number of deaths was “unacceptable” and that work to address the crisis would continue “at pace.”

“These latest statistics provide yet more heartbreaking reading,” she said. While there is still much work to be done, every life saved means one less family grieving, and I am determined that we can use the recent halt in the upward trend as a platform for real change.

“My priority now is to take action and deliver new investment to improve services and get more people into treatment that works for them.”

In comparison to other European countries, Scottish Conservative leader Douglas Ross described the drug death figures as “off-the-scale bad” and “so uniquely awful.”

“The enormity of this national emergency is laid bare in this heartbreaking toll of fatalities,” he added.

“These figures are a source of embarrassment for Nicola Sturgeon, who has presided over a massive increase in Scotland’s drug-deaths epidemic.”

According to the statistics, 65 percent of those who died were between the ages of 35 and 54, and more than two-thirds (70 percent) were men.

For the five-year period 2017-2021, Dundee city had the highest death rate of any local authority area (45.2 per 100,000 population), followed by Glasgow city (44.4) and Inverclyde (44.4). (35.7).

People in the most deprived areas were 15 times more likely than those in the least deprived areas to have died from drugs.

More than one drug was found in the body in 93 percent of all drug-related deaths.

In 2020, drug deaths in Scotland will reach an all-time high.

Opiates or opioids, such as heroin, morphine, and methadone, were responsible for 84 percent of the deaths.

Benzodiazepines, such as diazepam and etizolam, were involved in 69 percent of the cases.

It comes after the head of Scotland’s drug deaths taskforce called for a revamp of addiction services and drug law reform to prevent overdose deaths.

Former chief inspector of prisons and ex-chief constable of Lothian and Borders Police, David Strang, has echoed earlier calls for a “public health approach” to the crisis.

 

Julie Ramsay, vital events statistician at NRS, said: “Drug misuse deaths have increased substantially over the past few decades – there were more than five times as many deaths in 2021 compared with 1996.

“After adjusting for age, people in the most deprived areas were more than 15 times more likely to die from drug abuse in 2021 than those in the least deprived areas.” Over the last two decades, this ratio has widened.”

A Public Health Scotland report released last month revealed that, despite increased investment, addiction services are still falling short of key treatment targets.

It came after a watchdog called for more transparency in how extra funds were spent by services combating drug deaths.

Opposition parties claim that the Scottish government’s cuts to drug rehab and addiction programmes are a major cause of the recent increase in drug deaths.

‘A national disgrace’
“The SNP government must accept that their current approach isn’t working,” said Scottish Conservatives leader Douglas Ross.

Claire Baker, Scottish Labour’s drug policy spokesperson, said the “utterly shameful figures” demonstrated that the government was not making nearly enough progress.

“We cannot call something a public health emergency if we do not respond with emergency action,” she added.

“They [the SNP] can begin by investing in woefully underfunded drug and alcohol services, which they cut to the bone despite warnings, and by implementing the other Scottish Drug Death Taskforce recommendations.”

Scottish Lib Dem leader Alex Cole-Hamilton called for safe consumption spaces to be made available across the country, and for specialist drug and alcohol commissions to be set up.

He said: “Drug deaths remain almost four times worse than anywhere else in Europe.

“According to the first minister, her government lost sight of the ball. It is time for new measures to prevent people from dying.”

First Minister Nicola Sturgeon previously admitted that the number of deaths was “a national disgrace”, and that her government had not done enough to tackle the problem.

Last year, the Scottish government pledged to spend an extra £250m over five years in an attempt to reduce the number of deaths, including £20m a year on increasing the number of residential rehabilitation beds across the country.

The Scottish Drug Death Taskforce, which was set up in 2019, has also been working to increase the distribution of Naloxone, a medication that can reverse the effects of an opiate-related overdose.

In January, the previous head of the taskforce, Professor Catriona Matheson, told BBC Scotland she resigned as she was not prepared to do a “rush job” by publishing its final report six months early.

 

Her brother Tony Devine was found dead in his West Dunbartonshire home in June last year, aged 63. It was an overdose that took him after a 40-year battle with addiction, despite a spell in rehab and despite attending AA meetings.

Liz, who is two years older, believes Tony’s problems with drugs stemmed from their troubled childhood.

“Resilience plays a huge part in how you survive adverse childhood experiences,” she said. “You either go down with the ship or you start swimming.

“He was my little brother but he was always bigger than me. He actually was a very vulnerable child and a very vulnerable adult. I was very protective of him and I feel really bad that I couldn’t save him.”

 

She added: “We’re not helping them by throwing them in jail or even giving them community service, we need to get them into recovery and to be living a useful life, the same as everybody else – where they can make relationships and have access to their families.

“Let’s do something before it gets to the stage where you’re having to bury somebody.”