Scotland is failing to turn around our shameful drug deaths crisis, according to latest figures. The latest quarterly death count of 298 is the worst in almost two years, since June 2021.
Suspected drug deaths in the first three months of 2023 were five per cent up on the same period last year, figures suggest. Drawn from Police Scotland management data, the numbers follow equally depressing news for the previous three months, when 295 died.
The latest bombshell follows a period of small reductions in deaths which gave a glimmer of hope things were improving. Deaths have kept piling up despite a National Mission on drugs, announced by Nicola Sturgeon in 2021 and backed by £250 million funding over five years.
