DRUG deaths in Scotland have leapt back up again despite SNP ministers claiming they were “turning the tide” on the national shame.
Official figures published by National Records of Scotland show there were 1,172 cases where substances were directly linked to fatalities last year – a rise of 121 on the 1,051 Scots who lost their lives in 2022.
NRS said Scotland had by fat the worst rates in the UK, and people in the most deprived areas were “more than 15 times as likely to die from drug misuse compared to people in the least deprived areas”.
Opiates and opioids, including heroin, morphine and methadone were implicated in 80 per cent of the 1,172 “drug misuse” deaths, which are classified by a strict definition which excludes cases where “drug use indirectly led to the death or where chronic health conditions caused by drug use caused the death”.
The NRS report said drug misuse deaths were more common than they were in 2000, and the rate of drug misuse deaths was 4.2 times higher in 2023 than in 2000. The average age of drug misuse deaths has also increased from 32 to 45 since 2000.
Phillipa Haxton, NRS’s head of vital events statistics, said: “The figures show us that males were twice as likely to have a drug misuse death as females. Most of the increase in the past year was due to male deaths.
“Glasgow City and Dundee City had the highest rates of drug misuse deaths while East Renfrewshire and East Dunbartonshire had the lowest.”
Scottish Government Health Secretary Neil Gray said: “My heartfelt condolences go to all those affected by the loss of a loved one through drugs. This level of deaths remains hugely concerning and underlines why we will continue to do all we can to reduce harm and deaths caused by drugs.”
NRS said the rate of “drug poisoning deaths” in Scotland – a measure used to compare with other nations – was “more than double the rates of other UK countries in 2022”.
It said the rate was 2.7 times as high as the rates for England and Northern Ireland, and 2.1 times as high as the rate in Wales. Although today’s figures are for 2023, NRS said 2022 was the most recent year that data is available for across the UK.
Drug-related deaths climbed to a peak of 1,339 in 2020, and fell slightly to 1,330 in 2021.
A year ago, it emerged Scotland’s toll had fallen again to 1,051, down by 279 – and billed it as “the lowest annual total since 2017”.
This prompted the then Drugs Policy Minister, SNP MSP Elena Whitham, to claim: “I think we’ve definitely seen the tide turning on this.”
But Ms Whitham also raised concerns about “hugely potent, synthetic opioids making their way into supply within Scotland”.
We told in December how newly released Holyrood cabinet papers showed the SNP cabinet in 2008 set out plans for a renewed focus on drug deaths — with rehab at its heart.
But no major focus followed, and deaths soared from 455 in the 2007 stats to the record 1,339 in 2020.
DEATH COUNT CONTROVERSY
HOW drugs deaths are counted has proven controversial - sparking fears the true fatalities total is even higher.
National Records of Scotland set out how the stats are recorded in its report today, saying: “The definition of drug-deaths used in Scotland is called drug misuse.
“This includes all deaths where the underlying cause was drug abuse OR where the underlying cause was poisoning AND there was a controlled substance in the body.”
But it said: “This definition excludes cases where drug use indirectly led to the death or where chronic health conditions caused by drug use caused the death.”
NRS gives examples of when a death would not be counted in the stats.
One scenario says: “A person had been using cocaine for years. Over time this contributed to a weakening of their heart and damage to their arteries. This damage eventually caused a fatal heart attack. This would not be counted as a drug misuse death because the long term drug use did not directly lead to the death.”
NRS provides another scenario where a death would NOT be counted as a drug misuse death, saying: “A person died of a blood borne virus which they got by injecting drugs with non-sterile needles.”
SNP minister Mr Gray was attending a drugs recovery project in Dumbarton today to mark the publication of the figures, meeting service users who are helping to build a boat.
Mr Gray said: “We’re taking a wide range of actions through our £250 million National Mission on drugs, including opening a Safer Drug Consumption Facility pilot, working towards the opening of drug-checking facilities and widening access to life-saving naloxone.
“We will also continue to improve access to residential rehab, where we’re on track to meet our target for additional placements, and drive the rollout of Medication Assisted Treatment standards to make treatment and support available more quickly.
“Despite this unwelcome rise, I believe that National Mission action has led to much being achieved in a short space of time.”
But campaigner and former addict Annemarie Ward, who is critical of years of disproportionate focus on “harm reduction” over rehab, said: “We are in the midst of a tragedy of unimaginable proportions, yet the Scottish Government persists with a strategy that has repeatedly failed to save lives.
“The provision of community rehabilitation, community and residential detox services, and inpatient residential rehabilitation remains woefully inadequate. These are the essential services needed to help people achieve real recovery and break free from the cycle of dependency.”
Ms Ward, the head of charity FAVOR UK – due to hold a protest and vigil in Glasgow’s George Square on Tuesday evening – said: “Our nation deserves better. The people of Scotland deserve better. We cannot continue down this path of failure.”