Nicola Sturgeon has accepted that “there is much more to do” to tackle Scotland’s drugs death epidemic after the country recorded a tiny reduction in the number of people who have lost their lives.
New stats from the National Records of Scotland show that the 2021 figure is 1,330 - a fall of just one per cent since last year.
The figure was still the second highest annual total since records began.
The First Minister, commenting online, said: “Every death to drugs is the loss of an individual who was loved and valued. So while it is welcome that deaths in 2021 were slightly down on year before - and that year on year increase since 2013 has halted - we know there is much more to do to address this unacceptable crisis.”
READ MORE: Scottish drugs deaths fall by just one per cent in a year
Figures for 2020 showed that 1,339 people died from substance misuse – the highest number on record in the country. The new figures show a fall of just 9 deaths.
Despite the number falling marginally, it is the first year since 2013 in which drug misuse deaths have not increased.
The Scottish Government is under increasing pressure to act following publication of a report from the Drug Deaths Taskforce which called for a cultural change and to end the discrimination around addiction.
It made 20 recommendations with 139 specific actions to be taken by the Scottish and UK Governments.
The recommendations include moving towards a care approach rather than a punitive one, and legislation on safe drug consumption rooms.
Douglas Ross, the leader of the Scottish Conservatives, called for the SNP Government to back his Right to Recovery Bill, which is set to go before Holyrood later this year.
The legislation would enshrine in law the right of those with addiction problems to receive potentially life-saving treatment.
Describing the latest drug death figures “heart-breaking”, Ross said: “These figures are a badge of shame for Nicola Sturgeon, who has presided over a huge escalation in Scotland’s drug-deaths epidemic during her time in office.”
“Scotland’s drug-deaths rate is not merely worse than that of any other European nation. It’s so off-the-scale bad, so uniquely awful, that the SNP Government have to accept their current approach isn’t working.”
“Our Bill addresses one of the biggest obstacles those with addiction issues face in turning their lives around – namely accessing treatment programmes, including residential rehab.”
Scottish Labour Drug Policy spokesperson Claire Baker said: “These utterly shameful figures show we are making nowhere near enough progress."
“Year after year we hear the same apologies and promises, but platitudes don’t save lives. We cannot call something a public health emergency if we don’t respond with emergency action.
“The SNP need to start acting with the urgency we have needed all along, and use every single power at their disposal to get people the help they need.”
Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Alex Cole-Hamilton demanded the Scottish Government call in the expertise of the World Health Organisation to tackle the issue.
He highlighted how statistics will leave Scotland’s drug-related deaths at three and a half times the rate of anywhere else in Europe.
He said: “By the First Minister’s own admission, her government took its eye off the ball. It will forever be a scar on the conscience of this Scottish Government and a legacy of its fixation on breaking up the UK over everything else.”
“It’s time for new measures to stop people dying. We urgently need specialist drug and alcohol commissions similar to what happens in Portugal, to end the destructive use of imprisonment for people misusing drugs, and to make safe consumption spaces available across the country."
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