This is an old one, answered many times before. The Record View (16?) knows nothing it seems of the city it inhabits.
Why are they so wrong about drug deaths in Scotland? Three reasons:
- Drug deaths statistics are counted differently across the UK.
- This spike in deaths is largely among older addicts, know as the Trainspotting Generation and they are the victims of Tory economic policies, NOT Nicola, in the 1980s.
- The Scottish Government has beaten the waiting time targets for drug treatment.
- Drug deaths are counted differently in Scotland and England:
The statistics come from a source which compares these with English data which are not gathered in the same way. See this telling example on page 47:
‘It follows that some deaths could (in theory) be counted differently in, say, Scotland and England. For example, a death from intentional self-poisoning by an uncontrolled substance would be counted in Scotland (but not in England) if a controlled substance was present in the body but was not believed to have contributed to the death (because the presence of the controlled substance would not be recorded in the data for England).’
And contributing to this problem, deaths are more likely to be recorded as suicide in Scotland:
Unlike Scotland, in England and Wales, whether a death due to injury is classified as intentional or accidental depends on information provided by coroners. Narrative verdicts from coroners often do not provide information on whether the injuries were due to intentional self-harm, were accidental or were of undetermined intent. In these circumstances, coding rules mean that classification of the death defaults to ‘accidental’, and therefore suicides may be underestimated in England and Wales (and therefore also the UK).’
https://www.scotpho.org.uk/health-wellbeing-and-disease/suicide/data/uk/
2. Tory economic policies in the 1980s are to blame:
Scotland’s drug death crisis is based disproportionally upon older drug users who began using heroin in the 1980s and 90s under the Tory and New Labour neoliberal economic policies which lauded greedy individualism, and which destroyed communities through a failure to create employment and a misguided war on drugs. Researchers have shown this to be a predictable and widespread phenomenon:
Drug Overdose Rates Are Highest in Places With the Most Economic and Family Distresshttps://scholars.unh.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1339&context=carsey
During the 1980s and ’90s there was a significant increase in problem drug users in Scotland, which peaked about 20 years ago. There is now an ageing population of drug addicts, mainly men, who have been using heroin for decades. Biologically they are ageing much faster than their real age and they develop multiple morbidity, particularly around respiratory diseases, liver diseases and blood-borne viruses and this adds a further vulnerability with regards to overdose deaths. Last year, more than two-thirds of drug-related deaths were aged between 35 and 54.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-48853004
3. SNP Government drug treatment beats 90% waiting time target with 95% score
From the Information Services Division (ISD) for drug and alcohol treatment services between July and September 2019:
The Scottish Government set a standard that 90% of people referred for help with their drug or alcohol problem will wait no longer than three weeks for treatment that supports their recovery.
For the 5,335 people seeking drug treatment, 95.0% waited three weeks or less.
Click to access 2019-12-17-DATWT-Summary.pdf
Talking-up Scotland / Scottish media fact checking is like shooting fish in a barrel 
Good work again John but my concern (as always) is if this is all true then why does Nicola Surgeon and the SNP become so apologetic when challenged about drug deaths by the Yoons and the MSM?
Surely they should be pointing out these anomalies?
LikeLiked by 2 people
The MSM are unlikely to publish or broadcast replies. The responses are often via tweets and other social media.
The MSM and the opposition do not want anything which shows Scotland other than ‘the worst’.
LikeLiked by 5 people
Yes, I agree
I think the strategy is to appear mature and responsible with a encouragingly forward-looking manner.
Making the opposition look moany?
Is it working?
Don’t know but they remain well ahead with the others statics
LikeLiked by 2 people
When will they ever learn? .. as the song goes.
LikeLike
England’s Tories,who have reserved drug policy in Scotland to themselves,view drug addiction as a criminal act.
Solving these deep seated and long term issues will not happen overnight,especially with a government in London being hostile to any new ways of tackling it.
Economic hardship is at the root of this evil and Westminster will ensure that the situation continues for as long as possible in Scotland.
Keeping people dependent in Scotland is at the heart of their policy towards us.
LikeLiked by 3 people
O/T The BBC News website is publishing some truly harrowing material today. Covered on its UK and England pages it has this:
based on the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse, ’Staff and councillors in Lambeth presided over a “culture of cover-up” that led to more than 700 CHILDREN IN CARE HOMES suffering cruelty and sexual abuse, an inquiry has found.’ (my emphasis)
Covered on its England page is this: ‘Some children in Bradford “remain unprotected” from sex exploitation, a new report highlighting abuse suffered by victims over two decades has said.’ And ‘Abuse victim Fiona Goddard said the council and police had chances to “nip it in the bud” but “never did”.’
It reports that the Bradford Partnership, made up of Bradford Council, West Yorkshire Police and Bradford’s Clinical Commissioning Group, said: “It is a NATIONAL issue and, like many places up and down the country, Bradford District has seen a series of cases that have gone back over the last two decades.”
The one thing the two articles have in common is the absence of any reference to the Westminster government – no indication of a request to a minister for comment; no reference to weakness or failure by Westminster in delivery of public services or inspection regimes; no use of unflattering photos of the relevant Secretary of State or PM!
It’s as if in England the BBC accepts that subsidiarity in the allocation of roles and responsibilities for public services is a ‘real thing’ sometimes, in contrast to the editorial position taken by BBC Scotland.
On a less serious matter by comparison, the BBC News’ Wales page has this: ‘A Michelin-starred chef has said he has been forced to temporarily close his restaurant, saying he has a staffing shortage because of Brexit and Covid.’
The article focuses only on the Brexit cause and makes reference to the UK government’s migration policies. Nowhere is there any reference to – far less any negative criticism of – the impact of the Welsh government’s management of the pandemic.
Could BBC Wales not find an equivalent of Stephen Montgomery owner of the Townhead Hotel, Lockerbie to berate the Welsh government? Perhaps it wasn’t motivated to have one!
LikeLiked by 4 people
Spot on
LikeLike
I knew someone who knew someone who was a bit in the know, they said that drugs were so easily transported into Scotland, because the policing of ports is basically zilch, being a reserved power to the English government.
In fact actively brought in and not stopped at all, hmm I wonder why, also then can be taken to England to distribute. What better way to keep people dependant, and what better way to make sure someone somewhere makes big bucks because illegal drugs is big business.
It’s no accident that drugs have been made available and pushed on mainly poorer communities in Scotland, where prospects for younger people were zero when the BritNats were in charge in Scotland’s councils and at Holyrood. Also a terrible unionist legacy, appalling ‘schemes’, council house tenements and high rises, people piled into buildings hardly fit for vermin, in a land of plenty, which should have meant everyone had an affordable house and garden should they so wish.
One thing the SNP should do is to ask loudly, why and how drugs are brought into Scotland, who is policing the ports etc, it’s an EngGov reserved power. They should point out that the legacy of the union has been incredibly detrimental to Scotland and Scotland’s communities. Ten or so years in government is not enough to repair the terrible unionists’ destructive legacy of poverty, drugs being distributed, and the knock on effects that all has on individuals, families and communities.
Scotland has 100’s of miles of coastline, not policed, open to anyone and everyone who wants to import whatever they like really, and the plan by the EngGov for ‘freeports’, will just add to the damage, which really we all know the BritNats jobworths at Holyrood are delighted to see and delighted to use it for their SNP bad stories. Despicable.
LikeLiked by 1 person