A new report has shown drug-related deaths have declined by a small amount in Scotland (National Records of Scotland, 2023). The statistics demonstrate that in 2022 there were 1051 deaths due to drug misuse in Scotland, which is 279 deaths fewer than in 2021 and the lowest number of drug misuse deaths since 2017. The change between 2021 and 2022 is the largest year on year decrease on record.
In 2022, an in-depth analysis of drug-related deaths that were experienced in Scotland in 2017 and 2018 was published by Public Health Scotland. It found that the drug most commonly implicated in deaths in 2018 was benzodiazepine etizolam. The percentage of deaths where etizolam was implicated increased over time. Opioids (heroin/morphine, methadone or buprenorphine) were implicated in 77% of deaths in 2018. Among people in this group, 41% were prescribed an opioid substitution therapy drug, such as methadone, at the time of death. This percentage has increased from 21% in 2009.
In August 2022 the Scottish Government published an update to its National Mission to reduce drug deaths and improve the lives of those impacted by drugs. It claimed Scotland has one of the highest drug death rates in the developed world. Drug deaths are now recognised as one of the biggest contributors to Scotland's falling life expectancy. The report linked drug deaths to levels of poverty, stating, ‘A key underlying factor for drug deaths is poverty. While drug deaths are unacceptably high across the country some areas – particularly the cities and deindustrialised communities – have a particularly acute challenge’.
People in the most deprived areas of Scotland are almost 16 times as likely to die from drug misuse compared to people in the least deprived areas. The association of deprivation with drug misuse deaths is much greater than with other causes of death (National Records of Scotland, 2023).
Angela Constance, Minister for Drug Policy in Scotland, said in the report that the government had begun ‘building the foundations for change’, including learning from the Drug Deaths Task Force, setting a new treatment target, taking a new approach to residential rehabilitation and increasing funding to community and grass-roots organisations (Scottish Government, 2022).