Drug-related deaths in Scotland increase

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.

The SDCF is expected to open on 21 October.

Read more:
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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.”