Suspected drug deaths fall dramatically by 30% in last 4 years as world-first SNP scheme bites

By Professor John Robertson OBA:

From Rapid Action Drug Alerts and Response (RADAR) quarterly ​reports with the most recent released today:

  • The total number of suspected drug deaths between December 2023 and February 2024 was 294.1
  • In the period 4 March to 26 May 2024, the total number of suspected drug deaths was 267.2
  • In the period 3 June to 25 August 2024, the total number of suspected drug deaths was 225.3
  • In the period 2 September to 24 November 2024, the total number of suspected drug deaths was 2154

That gives a total of 1 001, down from 1 200 in 2023 and a peak of 1 411 in 2020.

Suspected drug deaths based on police assessment at the scene of death have now fallen 29% in 4 years and 17% in the last year.

Possible explanation?

After a pilot phase ending in 2018, the Scottish Government began to embed Naloxone opioid overdose reversal kits across NHS Scotland. Shortly after, the kits which can be administered by anyone, were adopted by Police Scotland, ambulances and prisons, and made available to libraries, community centres, taxi drivers and to the friends and relatives of users.5

Scotland was the first country in the world to introduce a national naloxone programme, empowering individuals, families, friends and communities to reverse an opiate overdose.

Anyone in Scotland can now order a free naloxone kit from national charity Scottish Families Affected by Alcohol & Drugs (SFAD) and be trained in its use.

Opioids such as those found in prescription painkillers are now responsible for 81% of all drug deaths in Scotland.

The above dramatic decline can only be attributed to this world-leading, but unknown in Scotland, initiative.

Sources:

  1. https://www.publichealthscotland.scot/publications/rapid-action-drug-alerts-and-response-radar-quarterly-report/rapid-action-drug-alerts-and-response-radar-quarterly-report-april-2024/#section-5-4
  2. https://www.publichealthscotland.scot/publications/rapid-action-drug-alerts-and-response-radar-quarterly-report/rapid-action-drug-alerts-and-response-radar-quarterly-report-july-2024/#section-5-4
  3. https://www.publichealthscotland.scot/publications/rapid-action-drug-alerts-and-response-radar-quarterly-report/rapid-action-drug-alerts-and-response-radar-quarterly-report-october-2024/#section-5-1
  4. https://www.publichealthscotland.scot/publications/rapid-action-drug-alerts-and-response-radar-quarterly-report/rapid-action-drug-alerts-and-response-radar-quarterly-report-january-2025/#section-5-4
  5. https://www.publichealthscotland.scot/publications/rapid-action-drug-alerts-and-response-radar-quarterly-report/rapid-action-drug-alerts-and-response-radar-quarterly-report-july-2024/harm-indicators/

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10 thoughts on “Suspected drug deaths fall dramatically by 30% in last 4 years as world-first SNP scheme bites”

      1. Yes, they did say where he was from. That’s why my ears pricked up but I really wasn’t paying full attention to it until I heard those three words – County Lines Gangs. He was from England but I couldn’t swear to the city. The presenter even did a quick resume of the damage these gangs were doing in Scotland.

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  3. Very good news, very bad news for the Britnats. The jobsworths English HQd MSPs at Holyrood would actually prefer to see people suffer and die than admit the SNP are working wonders, as they should, for the people of Scotland, albeit against the odds of restraints set by the English government.

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