Scotland’s drug harm is losing the country up to £6bn a year, according to a report from the Social Market Foundation (SMF) think tank. The cost to the country’s public sector is estimated at around £1bn per year, with the wider social and economic harms increasing the figure to as much as £5.7bn, says Harm, hardship and the price of inaction.
Although Scotland’s ongoing drug death crisis is a ‘well-documented’ problem, it has now taken on ‘new dimensions’, the report says – including the emergence of powerful synthetic opioids, the rise in polydrug fatalities, and the ageing of people who started using drugs decades ago and are now facing more serious health risks.
The document is based on both economic modelling and focus group interviews with current and former drug users in Edinburgh and Glasgow. The £1bn cost to the country’s public sector – including around £222m on healthcare and drug services, and £320m criminal justice costs – would cover two thirds of the entire mental health budget, it says, with the impact on GDP estimated at a further £1.2bn through unemployment and reduced productivity.
‘Not only do these figures represent clear economic damage, but they showcase the extent to which Scotland’s drug crisis affects so many lives and livelihoods across the country,’ says SMF. The focus group interviews, meanwhile, ‘confirmed an increasingly pervasive drugs market alongside worries that drugs services can be difficult to access’.
The most recent set of official drug death figures, for 2024, showed a 13 per cent decrease on the previous year. While this could ‘signal that the country is starting to get to grips with the crisis’ it could also prove to be ‘nothing more than a blip’, the document warns, with powerful synthetic opioids and increasing polydrug use representing stark new dangers. ‘The drug market is increasingly volatile and fast-moving,’ it states. ‘New substances emerge quickly, potency varies unpredictably, and drug consumption behaviours continue to change over time. This makes it difficult for services and policymakers to keep pace, and there is a risk that headline declines in overall drug-death figures obscure the underlying trends shaping future harm.’ Last month Public Health Scotland warned anyone taking illicit drugs that they should assume they were contaminated with other substances.
With the Scottish Parliament elections taking place in May, the report sets out a ‘clear
roadmap’ for tackling the drugs crisis, including expansion of naloxone provision, needle and syringe programmes and drug checking services, as well as a shift towards a ‘primarily public health approach’. Data collection also needs to be improved, it says, alongside enhanced detox capacity.
‘For years, Scotland has recorded the highest drug death rate in Europe, with thousands of lives lost,’ said senior researcher at SMF, Jake Shepherd. ‘Scotland’s drug crisis is nothing short of a tragedy, and no argument for change is more compelling than the human cost. Our research shows the issue is also economically unsustainable. While the Scottish Government has made meaningful attempts to address the crisis in recent years, it must go further and faster. Drug harms are avoidable, and a more effective response could reduce these impacts. The price of inaction is too high to ignore. We hope that policymakers across the UK, and the incoming Scottish Government, act on these findings to reduce harm, reverse drug deaths, and improve the wellbeing of future generations, while supporting people who use drugs to live healthy and meaningful lives.’
Harm, hardship and the price of inaction is available here