STV and the Herald covered this story in September, but I seem to have missed it. BBC Scotland too, missed it.
There were 285 suspected drug deaths recorded between January and March 2022, 27% (108) lower than the same calendar quarter of 2021 (January to March 2021: 393). The rolling 12-month suspected drug
https://www.gov.scot/binaries/content/documents/govscot/publications/statistics/2022/06/suspected-drug-deaths-scotland-january-march-2022/documents/suspected-drug-deaths-scotland/suspected-drug-deaths-scotland/govscot%3Adocument/suspected-drug-deaths-scotland.pdf
death total has declined for four consecutive quarters.
Ironically, I’d been waiting for the Police Scotland figures after reporting on a fall in suspected drugs deaths in the previous quarter from January to March 2022
There were 277 suspected drug deaths during the period April to June 2022, 16% (52) fewer than the same calendar quarter in the previous year (April to June 2021).
https://www.gov.scot/binaries/content/documents/govscot/publications/statistics/2022/09/suspected-drug-deaths-scotland-april-june-2022/documents/suspected-drug-deaths-scotland-april-june-2022/suspected-drug-deaths-scotland-april-june-2022/govscot%3Adocument/suspected-drug-deaths-scotland-april-june-2022.pdf
Scotland still has the highest drug death toll in the UK, indeed in Europe, but something dramatic is happening.
First, the NRS figure based on the presence of drugs in the bloodstream fell, by 1% in 2021, for the first time in nearly a decade while the Police Scotland figure, based of scene of death forensic evidence fell by 27%. In 2022, Police Scotland data suggest a further 22% fall in the first six months of 2022.
Notably 64%, 360 of the 562 were between 35 and 54 and only 5%, 31 of the 562, were under 25.
This has been largely explained by a natural consequence of the many older drug abusers who became addicted during the Conservative Government’s brutal de-industrialisation in the 1980s and the subsequent neglect of the New Labour period, coming together, to the end of their inevitably shortened lives.
Talking-up Scotland 
Non of it was by accident. Drugs don’t walk themselves into a country and the communities in the country. Coincided with oil being taken, to the tune of £trillions, it’s done the world over. Just have to look at Latin America, oil rich and resources rich countries became huge drugs havens and distributers, crime ridden divided and the people poor. Hmm.
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The populations in different parts of the UK may well have suffered differently in terms of long term drug misuse from the legacy effects of deindustrialisation and subsequent public health responses over decades. Scotland may well now be experiencing the relatively worse, tragic effects because the causes to an extent were ‘baked in’ some time ago.
However, the most recent Office for National Statistics (ONS) data on drug deaths elsewhere in the UK clearly show that drug policies and support being implemented by governments in Westminster and Cardiff are failing to slow far less stop increasing deaths due to drug misuse. And Westminster governments, with drugs policy responsibility and full agency for all of England, are also failing to resolve very substantial regional disparities in numbers of deaths from drug misuse
From the ONS’ latest drug death statistics for England and Wales published on 3 August 2022 (with my emphasis):
‘4,859 deaths related to drug poisoning were registered in 2021 in England and Wales, equivalent to a rate of 84.4 deaths per million people; this is 6.2% HIGHER THAN THE RATE RECORDED IN 2020 (79.5 deaths per million).
‘3,060 drug poisoning deaths registered in 2021 were identified as drug misuse, accounting for 53.2 deaths per million people.’
Oddly, nowhere in the ONS’ text does it state that the ‘drug misuse’ statistic is the highest on record but its graph, Figure 2 shows that there has been a rising trend in deaths from drug misuse in England and Wales since (at least) 1993: SO THE 2021 FIGURE IS INDEED A RECORD HIGH.
The ONS reports that: ‘In 2021, the highest rate of drug misuse deaths was observed in the North East (104.1 DEATHS PER MILLION; 255 registered deaths), while the lowest rate was in the East of England (27.4 DEATHS PER MILLION; 166 deaths). The North East has had the HIGHEST RATE OF DRUG MISUSE DEATHS FOR THE PAST NINE YEARS and has a STATISTICALLY SIGNIFICANTLY HIGHER RATE THAN ALL OTHER REGIONS OF ENGLAND.’
THESE ARE MASSIVE AND LONGSTANDING REGIONAL DIFFERENCE within one country, England which has one set of drug policies created and overseen by one government! Given this, how can Westminster policies be regarded as successful, immune to criticism? (Arguably only if the drug users in North East England are of no concern to Westminster politicians.)
Why have these disparities not been addressed? Why is there apparent silence in England over this but the opposite pertains in the media, the BBC and amongst opposition politicians in Scotland? Is it that they are all focused on some other objective that means the attention, the intensity of criticism, is of a different order in Scotland from elsewhere in the UK?
From the ONS: ‘In Wales, the rate of drug misuse deaths rose to 72.4 deaths per million from 51.1 deaths per million in 2020, returning to the high point recorded in 2018 (72.0 deaths per million).’ Does Labour in government not have a quick, easy solution either?
Source: https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/birthsdeathsandmarriages/deaths/bulletins/deathsrelatedtodrugpoisoninginenglandandwales/2021registrations
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You would think that the MSM would be glad to publish some positive news like this. After all, they were all over the numbers when the news was bad.
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