The number of people who died due to drug misuse in Scotland has increased.
Data from National Records of Scotland (NRS) showed there were a total of 1,172 deaths due to drug misuse in 2023 – a rise of 121 (12%) on the previous year.
This is the second-lowest number of drug misuse deaths since 2017, with 2022 seeing the lowest number (1,051).
The record high was in 2020, when 1,339 people died.
Key points:
• Drug misuse deaths are still much more common than they were in 2000. After adjusting for age, the rate of deaths were 4.2 times as high in 2023 than 2000. • In 2023, males (805) were twice as likely to have a drug misuse death as females (367).
• Since 2000, the average age of drug misuse deaths has increased from 32 to 45.
• People in the most deprived areas of Scotland are more than 15 times as likely to die from drug misuse compared to people in the least deprived areas. • After adjusting for age, Glasgow City and Dundee City had the highest rates of drug misuse deaths while East Renfrewshire and East Dunbartonshire had the lowest. • For the period 2019-2023, Glasgow had the highest rate of drug misuse deaths with 44.6 deaths per 100,000 people. • The rate of drug misuse death was above the Scotland average in Glasgow, Dundee, Inverclyde, North Ayrshire, West Dunbartonshire, East Ayrshire, Renfrewshire and North Lanarkshire. • The most common type of drugs implicated in drug misuse deaths in 2023 were opiates/opioids which were implicated in 80% of all deaths. • There were 23 deaths linked to nitazenes, up from one death the year before. These super strength street opiates have been linked to thousands of deaths in the US in recent years.
• The majority (88%) of drug misuse deaths were classified as accidental poisonings, with only 7% ruled as intentional self-poisonings. • The rate of drug poisoning deaths in Scotland was more than double the rates of other UK countries in 2022. 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. • Scotland continues to experience a higher death toll from drugs than any country in Europe, at 277 deaths per million 15-64-year-olds. In comparison, it is nearly three times higher than the next worse affected European country, Ireland, which had a drugs death rate of 97 per million in the most recent comparable figures for 2020.
Last year, plans were approved for the UK’s first facility for the safer consumption of illegal drugs to help tackle the crisis.
The proposed pilot scheme will be based at Hunter Street Health Centre in Glasgow and will allow users to take their own drugs under the supervision of trained health professionals.
Safer drug consumption facilities (SDCFs) are backed by the Scottish government as a way to reduce the harms associated with drug use in public areas.
Image: Health Secretary Neil Gray during a visit to the Skylark IX Recovery Trust boat-building project on Tuesday. Pic: PA
Heath Secretary Neil Gray accepted the number of drug-related deaths remains “hugely concerning”.
He said: “We’re taking a wide range of actions through our £250m 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 (MAT) 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, with projects delivered on an unprecedented scale making a real difference to people.
“We will intensify our efforts and are also working hard to respond to the growing threat from highly dangerous, super-strong synthetic opioids like nitazenes in an increasingly toxic and unpredictable drug supply.”
Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) has said it will “pause” shipments to the US as the British car firm works to “address the new trading terms” of Donald Trump’s tariffs.
The US president has introduced a 25% levy on all foreign cars imported into the country, which came into force on Thursday.
JLR, one of the country’s biggest carmakers, exported about 38,000 cars to the US in the third quarter of 2024 – almost equal to the amount sold to the UK and the EU combined.
In a statement on Saturday, a spokesperson for the company behind the Jaguar, Land Rover and Range Rover brands said: “The USA is an important market for JLR’s luxury brands.
“As we work to address the new trading terms with our business partners, we are taking some short-term actions including a shipment pause in April, as we develop our mid- to longer-term plans.”
The company released a statement last week before Mr Trump announced a “baseline” 10% tariff on goods from around the world, which kicked in on Saturday morning, on what he called “liberation day”.
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JLR reassured customers its business was “resilient” and “accustomed to changing market conditions”.
“Our priorities now are delivering for our clients around the world and addressing these new US trading terms,” the firm said.
Trading across the world has been hit by Mr Trump’s tariff announcement at the White House on Wednesday.
All but one stock on the FTSE 100 fell on Friday – with Rolls-Royce, banks and miners among those to suffer the sharpest losses.
Cars are the top product exported from the UK to the US, with exports worth £8.3bn in the year to the end of September 2024, according to data from the Office for National Statistics.
For UK carmakers, the US is the second largest export market behind the European Union.
Industry groups have previously warned the tariffs will force firms to rethink where they trade, while a report by thinktank the Institute for Public Policy Research said more than 25,000 car manufacturing jobs in the UK could be at risk.
Two people have died following a fire at a caravan site near Skegness, Lincolnshire Police have said.
In a statement, officers said they were called at 3.53am on Saturday to a report of a blaze at Golden Beach Holiday Park in the village of Ingoldmells.
Fire and rescue crews attended the scene, and two people were found to have died.
They were reported to be a 10-year-old girl and a 48-year-old man.
The force said the victims’ next of kin have been informed and will be supported by specially trained officers.
Officers are trying to establish the exact cause of the blaze.
“We are at the very early stages of our investigation and as such we are keeping an open mind,” the force said.
A 15-year-old boy has died after “getting into difficulty” in a lake in southeast London, police say.
Officers and paramedics were called shortly after 3pm on Friday to Beckenham Place Park in Lewisham.
The Metropolitan Police said a boy “was recovered from the lake” at around 10.42pm the same day.
“He was taken to hospital where he was sadly pronounced dead. His death is being treated as unexpected but not believed to be suspicious,” according to the force.
The boy’s family has been told and are being supported by specialist officers.
The force originally said the child was 16 years old, but has since confirmed his age as 15.
In the earlier statement, officers said emergency services carried out a search and the park was evacuated.
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Image: Emergency teams were called to Beckenham Place Park on Friday afternoon
Beckenham Place Park, which borders the London borough of Bromley, covers around 240 acres, according to the park’s website.
The lake is described as 285 metres long, reaching depths of up to 3.5 metres.
It is designed as a swimming lake for open-water swimming and paddle boarding.
A London Ambulance Service spokesperson said on Friday: “We were called at 3.02pm this afternoon to reports of a person in the water.
“We sent resources to the scene, including an ambulance crew, an incident response officer and members of our hazardous area response team.”
Emergency teams have not explained how the boy entered the water, or whether he was accompanied by others.