Why 'shocking' 12% drug deaths rise in Scotland was worse than expected

“A painful day” - that’s how today’s drug death statistics have been described.

Figures were published on Tuesday morning showing the number of people dying from drugs had increased by a “shocking and shameful” 12 per cent. A total of 1,172 people died from drug misuse in 2023, up 121 on the previous year.

This is not hugely surprising, but the figures are worse than expected - Police Scotland published its suspected drug death figures earlier this year that suggested a 10 per cent rise was on the cards.

But this is likely not to be the last painful day.

We know drug addiction is linked to poverty. Those from the most deprived areas of Scotland are 15 times more likely to die from drugs than those from the most affluent areas.

Once again Glasgow and Dundee are the two cities with the highest proportions of drug deaths, and both cities have pockets of areas of multiple deprivation. 

It looks like any measures to try and tackle poverty in Scotland are being seriously hampered by the Government’s ever-tightening budget.

In the previous Budget, Finance Secretary Shona Robison cut millions from the affordable housing budget and a real-terms cut in alcohol and drug support funding. Only last week Ms Robison was forced to put a halt on all, but essential government spending as the deficit grew by £22 billion.

This will undoubtedly have a knock-on effect on the poorest in society, and also those most likely to die from drugs.

The more anti-poverty measures are squeezed financially, the more difficult it will be for the Government to bring drug death numbers down.

The Scottish Government can try as hard as it can to put a positive spin on it - and it is, pointing out this is the second lowest number of drug deaths since 2017. But that doesn’t detract from the fact more than 14,000 people have died from drugs since the SNP came to power in 2007.

Government ministers have thrown millions of pounds in trying to make a difference to the sky-high drug death figures, increasing funding by 67 per cent since 2014/15. But the figure remains the highest in Europe by quite some way, with no end in sight.

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People taking drugs are in a desperate situation and don’t intend to die when they take these substances. A total of 88 per cent of the deaths recorded in 2023 were classed as “accidental poisonings”, and only 7 per cent were deemed to be “intentional”.

There are things happening in Scotland - in two months a safer drug consumption room will be opening in Glasgow, allowing users to be supervised in case they have an overdose.

Progress is also being made to open drug checking facilities and expand the roll-out of naloxone, which reverses the effects of a drug overdose.

Clearly much more needs to be done though and throwing money at the problem isn’t working and, looking at the Government’s coffers, is probably no longer an option either.