Scotland remains drugs death capital of Europe for the SEVENTH year in a row
Scotland remains the drugs death capital of Europe for the seventh year in a row despite a 13 per cent fall in fatalities, new figures reveal.
Deaths from drug misuse in 2024 dropped by 13 per cent - or 155 deaths - to 1,017, according to the National Records of Scotland (NRS).
The decline follows last year's 12 per cent rise that saw deaths climb to 1,172, down from the peak in 2020 of 1,339.
A total of nearly 11,000 people have died from drug misuse in Scotland in the last decade, with the number of deaths running at an average of nearly three per day.
Last night the Scottish Tories said the ‘devastating’ figures ‘laid bare the tragic human toll of Scotland's drugs emergency which has spiralled out of control on the SNP's watch’.
Annie Wells, the party's drugs spokesman, said: ‘It's heartbreaking and intolerable that so many lives continue to be lost, and so many families left bereft, because Scotland has the highest drugs death rate in Europe.
‘And it's shameful that, as ever with this nationalist Government, those living in the poorest areas are worst-affected.
‘SNP ministers have repeatedly taken their eye off the ball, and still have no coherent and credible strategy for tackling this national crisis.’
Deaths from drug misuse in 2024 dropped by 13 per cent - or 155 deaths - to 1,017, according to the National Records of Scotland
Glasgow City, Dundee City and Inverclyde council areas had the highest rates of drug misuse deaths in the period 2020-2024.
There were 191 drug misuse deaths per million people in 2024, around 3.6 times as high as compared to the year 2000.
Estonia had the second highest rate in Europe at 135 per million in 2023.
The figures also revealed the number of deaths linked with fentanyl, which is 50 times more powerful than heroin and responsible for thousands of deaths in the U.S.
In 2024, fentanyl – a category of potent synthetic opioids - or similar substances were implicated in 12 drug misuse deaths.
The most common drugs involved were opiates and opioids (present in 80 per cent of deaths) such as heroin, which was implicated in 317 deaths.
Heroin substitute methadone was a factor in 412 deaths.
The drug death rate in Scotland is 2.8 times as high as the rates in England and Northern Ireland, and 1.9 times as high as the rate in Wales.
Needles and drugs paraphernalia near a Safer Drugs Consumption Facility on Hunter Street, Glasgow
Cocaine deaths in Scotland reached a record high of 479 in 2023 and remained at the same level in 2024.
Super-strong nitazenes are synthetic opioids which are often mixed in with other drugs and can be up to 500 times more potent than heroin.
Dealers are now using nitazenes - which mimic the effects of heroin - in combination with other drugs, including benzodiazepines.
Nitazenes were implicated in 76 deaths in 2024, more than three times as high as the number in 2023, when there were 23.
Kirsten Horsburgh, chief executive of the Scottish Drugs Forum, told the BBC that nitazenes were ‘a crisis on top of a crisis.’
Drugs campaigner Annemarie Ward, of the charity Faces and Voices of Recovery UK, said Police Scotland’s figures show suspected drug deaths have risen by 33 per cent since January 2024, suggesting the ‘crisis is not easing, it is accelerating’.
Writing on X, she said: ‘Saying “lowest since 2017” makes it sound like the crisis is easing.
‘In reality, 2017 was already a disaster year with 1,120 deaths.
‘Being “better” than a catastrophe is not success - the baseline is rotten.
‘Even at this so-called ‘lowest’ point, Scotland’s death rate is still three times England’s - and the worst in Europe.
‘It’s like bragging that your house fire is smaller than last year’s inferno.’
Scottish Labour health spokesman Jackie Baillie said: ‘Every life lost to drugs is a tragedy and each has a devastating impact on families and communities across the country.
‘While it is welcome that there has been progress made towards reducing the number of fatalities, there are still far too many lives being needlessly cut short.’
Drugs minister Maree Todd welcomed the decrease in deaths but admitted there is ‘still work to be done’.
She said: ‘My heartfelt condolences go to all those affected by the loss of a loved one through drugs.
‘It is welcome that we have seen progress with the number of deaths at the lowest level since 2017 but I know there is still work to be done and we will continue to do everything we can to save and improve lives.
‘This is particularly true as we face new threats from highly dangerous synthetic opioids like nitazenes, which further raise the risk of overdose and death.’
