There were 1,107 drug misuse deaths in Scotland last year, according to the latest official statistics from National Records of Scotland (NRS) – a 13 per cent decrease from 2023’s figure of 1,172. However, Scotland’s drug death rate remains the highest in Europe, with the country’s most deprived communities again bearing the brunt.
More than 90 per cent of the deaths were classified as accidental poisonings, with 6 per cent recorded as intentional self-poisonings. Opiates and opioids were present in 80 per cent of the deaths, benzodiazepines in 56 per cent and cocaine in almost 50 per cent – the highest level on record.
Men were more than twice as likely to die a drug-related death than women, with the average age of drug misuse deaths overall increasing from 32 in 2000 to 45. People in the most deprived areas of Scotland were 12 times as likely to have a drug misuse death compared to people in the least deprived, with the highest rates recorded in Glasgow City, Dundee City and Inverclyde.
Scotland’s drug death toll stands at 3.6 times the rate in 2000, at more than 19 per 100,000 people. Although deaths increased over two decades to their peak in 2020, they have been slowly decreasing since – with the exception of a 12 per cent rise in 2023. However, provisional figures for March to May this year showed a 15 per cent increase on the previous quarter, along with a 45 per cent increase in Scottish Ambulance Service naloxone administration incidents. Last month Public Health Scotland warned that highly potent nitazenes were now being ‘widely detected’ in all parts of the country in both community and custodial settings, posing a ‘substantial risk of overdose, hospitalisation and death’.
‘These statistics show a decrease in drug misuse deaths over the last year and represent the lowest number of deaths in the last seven years,’ said head of vital events statistics at NRS, Phillipa Haxton. ‘The longer-term trend shows that drug misuse deaths are still much more common than they were two decades ago.’
‘It is welcome that we have seen progress with the number of deaths at the lowest level since 2017, but I know there is still work to be done and we will continue to do everything we can to save and improve lives,’ said the Scottish Government’s drugs and alcohol policy minister Maree Todd. ‘This is particularly true as we face new threats from highly dangerous synthetic opioids like nitazenes, which further raise the risk of overdose and death. That is why we are providing record levels of funding for drugs and alcohol programmes and widening access to treatment, residential rehabilitation and life-saving naloxone. We have also supported and funded the opening of the UK’s first safer drug consumption facility and are working at pace to deliver drug-checking facilities.’
The figures showed that Scotland ‘continues to face a devastating drug death epidemic,’ said Abbeycare chief executive Paul Bowley. ‘While some progress is being made thanks to the Scottish Government’s national mission, with more people being given the opportunity to access treatment, this has not yet led to a significant reduction in the death toll. It is clear that more must be done.’
‘Scotland’s drug death rate remains around three times higher than England, and is still the highest in Europe,’ said Annemarie Ward of FAVOR UK. ‘That isn’t progress – it’s national shame.’
Drug-related deaths in Scotland, 2024 available here