New statistics from the National Records of Scotland (NRS) show that in 2021, 1330 people died in Scotland as a result of drug abuse.
That’s a drop of just one percent since 2020.
As a small indicator of improvement over time, the new figures show that drug-related deaths have not increased in the first year since 2013.
However, the high numbers still represent the second highest annual total for Scotland since registration began in 1996, far exceeding figures for the rest of the UK and EU.
In 2020 (the most recent year available for the rest of the UK), drug abuse in Scotland was 3.7 times that of the UK as a whole, and higher than that of any other European country.
Of those who died from drug abuse, 65 percent were between the ages of 35 and 54, and more than two-thirds (70 percent) were male.
Dundee City had the highest age-standardized drug abuse death rate of all municipalities (45.2 per 100,000 population for the 5-year period 2017-2021), followed by Glasgow City (44.4) and Inverclyde (35.7).
Julie Ramsay, vital events statistician at NRS, said: “The number of drug abuse deaths has increased significantly in recent decades – there were more than five times as many deaths in 2021 compared to 1996.
2021 will be the first year since 2013 that drug abuse deaths have not increased.
“By 2021, after adjusting for age, people in the most deprived areas were more than 15 times more likely to die from drug abuse than those in the least deprived areas.
“This ratio has broadened over the past two decades.”
Opioids remained the number one cause of death in Scotland in 2021.
Meanwhile, the number of people dying from the use of benzodiazepines has increased rapidly.
In 2015, there were 191 deaths from the drug, while last year there were 918 – nearly five times that number.
According to the NRS, this was mainly caused by street benzodiazepines rather than prescriptions.
Of all drug abuse deaths in 2021, 84 percent were opiates or opioids (such as heroin, morphine and methadone) and 69 percent were benzodiazepines (such as diazepam and etizolam).
But in 93 percent of all drug abuse deaths, more than one drug was found to be present in the body.
Scottish drug policy minister Angela Constance said the situation remains “unacceptable” and urgent work is needed to address the “emergency”.
Ms Constance said: “Scotland is suffering a terrible toll from drug deaths, leaving families in grief and pain and my heart goes out to all those affected by the drug death of a loved one.
“These latest statistics provide even more heartbreaking reading, and the situation remains unacceptable.”
The minister added that the government was already implementing many of the Drug Deaths Taskforce’s 20 recommendations published earlier this month.
FAVOR Scotland, a charity that supports addicts, said the “terrible” numbers “should be ashamed of the Scottish government”.
Annemarie Ward, the organisation’s CEO, said: “The response to the Scottish drug crisis has been appalling.
“The government has failed to do what is necessary and the cost is devastating to our communities. Every year we are left with more lost souls and broken families.”
The Scottish government has moved to treat drugs as a health issue rather than a criminal one, a move welcomed by experts – but this has been hampered by firings of the top figures involved.
Professor Catriona Matheson, a substance abuse expert from Stirling University, and former Deputy Chief Constable of Police Scotland, Neil Richardson, wrote a letter to the Scottish Government in late December 2021, saying that what was being asked of them had been addressed earlier. on speed of action than on sustainability of change.
In late May, prominent drug activist Peter Krykant warned that despite apparent government efforts, the situation had not changed for the people on the ground.