Irvine Welsh: Time to act on drugs deaths was 30 years ago

Irvine Welsh has claimed Scotland’s high level of drug deaths is down to the country not having control of its own destiny and being on the “margins of British society”.

Trainspotting author Irvine Welsh has said the “ship has sailed” on dealing with Scotland’s soaring drug deaths, and suggested radical action should have been taken decades ago.

The 64-year-old, who famously featured Edinburgh-based young people grappling with drug addiction in his 1993 novel, said it would take a “major shake-up” to tackle the grim toll.

Figures reported on Tuesday showed suspected drug deaths rose in the first six months of this year in Scotland.

Irvine Welsh. Picture: Lisa Ferguson

Statistics published by the Scottish Government showed there were 600 such fatalities over the period January to June – with this total 7 per cent higher than the same time in 2022.

The SNP has been keen to introduce drug consumption rooms in Scotland and Scottish Secretary Alister Jack has said the UK Government will not intervene to stop the plan.

When asked about the Scottish plan, Welsh said: “I think that ship has sailed … I think (the) time to do something with that (was) about 20 or 30 years ago.

“Most of the harmful drugs, aren’t illegal drugs… I mean, I do welcome it (decriminalisation), if it ever happened, but it should have happened 30 years ago – it’s (going to) take a major shake-up to our lives to sort something like that.”

Almost three quarters (72 per cent) of those who died between January and June were men, with this up from 69 per cent in 2022.

And just over two thirds (67 per cent) of fatalities involved people aged between 35 and 54. There were 26 suspected drugs deaths among the under-25 age group.

The data, based on operational information from Police Scotland, showed the force’s divisions with the largest number of suspected drugs deaths were Greater Glasgow, where there were 143 deaths between January and June 2023, followed by Lanarkshire with 76 and Edinburgh City, where there were 73.

Speaking during a BBC Radio interview, Welsh said: “Scottish culture about detoxification has always been unhealthy and we’ve dealt with all this debate with alcohol… really, it’s just the menu’s changed, but the behaviours are the same.

“It comes down to deprivation, it comes down to the fact that we don’t really still have political institutions to have control of our own destiny in Scotland, and we are on the margins of British society… even more so, I think, now.

“So I think all these things have an impact. There’s also basically nothing else to do if you’re a young kid… in Scotland. You used to have job opportunities, you used to have an education, you used to have a tax rebate – maybe not brilliant, but you had prospects in some ways.

“Now there’s nothing, there is literally nothing except (drugs).”