Scotland drug deaths rise, among worst in Europe

LONDON: Scotland recorded an increase in drug deaths last year, official figures showed on Tuesday, as the country continues to have one of the highest rates of such deaths in Europe.

Deaths by drug misuse have blighted some of Scotland´s poorest communities for decades and are often branded its “national shame”.

The National Records of Scotland (NRS) said drugs claimed the lives of 1,172 Scots in 2023 -- up 121, or 12 percent, from 2022.

Scotland had recorded its lowest drug death figures in five years in 2022, sparking hopes that the country had turned a corner in its fight against drug misuse.

Some 279 fewer people died from drug misuse that year compared to 2021.

“The longer-term trend shows that drug misuse deaths are still much more common than they were over two decades ago,” said Phillipa Haxton of the NRS.

Opioid drugs -- such as heroin and methadone -- were implicated in 80 percent of all drug deaths last year, according to the data.

The figures also highlighted a growing threat from super-strong synthetic opioids such as nitazenes.

They showed that the number of men who died from drug misuse rose by 113 in 2022 to 805 last year, with men twice as likely to die as women.

The cities of Glasgow and Dundee had the highest rates of death, according to the data.

“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,” said the NRS.

Scotland regularly appears at the top of studies measuring drug deaths per million people in European countries.