The number of drug deaths fell from the previous year’s figures but are huge in comparison to numbers from 20 years ago, and other European countries.
New figures have revealed that Scotland still has the highest number of deaths per million population in the UK and Europe.
The latest figures show that drug deaths in Scotland fell to 1,051 last year from 1,330 the year before.
However, this small reduction in deaths contrasts against fewer than 300 deaths, total, in 1996.
The rate of death compared to other countries, however, is huge.
The European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction stated that, on the basis of last year’s figures, Scotland had 327 deaths per million population compared with just 79 in Finland and 73 in Ireland. Almost all of the top ten worst countries in Europe for drugs deaths are in the Nordic and Baltic countries, Ireland, Scotland, and the UK as a whole.
Even before the latest numbers were announced, campaigners had complained of a lack of leadership in tackling the death rate and warned new developments meant things could get even worse.
Kirsten Horsburgh, the CEO of the charity the Scottish Drugs Forum, said prior to the release of the new figures that Scotland was “now well beyond the need for urgent action.”
In a statement, it called for “evidence-based” practice and policy such as safe consumption rooms, drug checking services to allow people to know what is in their drugs, and the “decriminalisation of the possession of drugs for personal use through the use of alternatives to prosecution for all people, for all drugs in all circumstances.”
However, the latter call is being held back by a political row. The Scottish Government wants to decriminalise all drugs for personal use but lacks the devolved powers to do so, while the UK Government has shown no signs of supporting the move.
The drugs forum also warns that a change in the supply may make things even worse.
A crackdown on the drug supply by the Taliban in Afghanistan has created a gap in the market which is being filled by synthetic opoids, which can be 50 times stronger than heroin and 100 times more potent than morphine.
“Everyone seems to know that Scotland has an astonishing rate of drug-related deaths and that was before we saw this emerging trend of new synthetic opioids within the heroin supply,” Horsburgh said. “Alarm bells should be ringing all over Government and all through the treatment and support services because we are not prepared.”
ADVERTISEMENT“In truth, we all know exactly what the evidence tells us we should be doing. The question is do we have the collective will to implement the necessary change,” she added.
Source: Euro News
