The number of suspected drug deaths in Scotland during March to May this year was down 8 per cent on the previous reporting period, according to the latest Rapid Action Drug Alerts and Response (RADAR) report from Public Health Scotland (PHS). There were 267 suspected drug deaths between March and May – 11 per cent lower than the same period last year.
The number of drug-related hospital admissions also fell by more than 10 per cent compared to the previous reporting period. However naloxone administration incidents were up by 5 per cent, and emergency department attendances by 2 per cent.
The suspected drug death figures are based on the initial reports of police officers attending scenes of death, and used to provide a ‘timely indication of trends and to detect any potential recent changes or clusters of harm’, PHS points out. They do not provide the same ‘robust’ indication of the number of drug-related fatalities as the official annual figures from National Records of Scotland. The last official drug death total – for 2022 – was down by a fifth on the previous year, and the lowest in five years. However, it was still almost four times higher than in 2000.
‘Drug-related harms remain high in Scotland,’ the report states, with a 2023 public health alert about nitazene-type opioids updated earlier this month as a result of ‘increasing detections in drugs mis-sold as heroin and diazepam.’ An alert about xylazine was also published in May, again due to increasing detections – particularly in drugs mis-sold as heroin.
Meanwhile, three licence applications for drug-checking schemes in Scotland have now been submitted to the Home Office. Following earlier applications from Aberdeen and Dundee, Glasgow’s health and social care partnership has applied to run a drug-checking service at the same site as the drug consumption facility scheduled to open later this year. The service would allow people to submit drug samples to be tested, with staff also able to provide health and harm-reduction advice. The Scottish Government has committed £1m of funding to establish the three sites.
‘Glasgow’s licence application is a welcome milestone,’ said drug and alcohol policy minister Christina McKelvie. ‘Drug-checking facilities would enable us to respond faster to emerging drug trends – which is particularly important given the presence of highly dangerous, super-strong synthetic opioids like nitazenes in an increasingly toxic and unpredictable drug supply. These increase the risk of overdose, hospitalisation and death, and are being found in a range of substances.’
Report available here