Figures released today by the National Records of Scotland (NRS) show that Scotland has the highest rate for drug deaths in the whole of Europe - prompting calls for the resignation of Scotland's public health minister.
Last year saw 1,264 deaths which involved substance use – a higher rate than across all EU countries and more than three times the UK as a whole - and this year's statistics saw another record-high year for drug-related deaths.
Scottish Labour health spokeswoman Monica Lennon has now called on public health minister Joe FitzPatrick to step down in light of the new figures.
She said: “The public needs to have confidence in the public health minister to lead us out of this human rights tragedy – these shocking statistics and his woeful response give us none.
“Joe FitzPatrick has tried his best but it’s not good enough. It’s time to make way for fresh leadership.”
READ MORE: Scotland drug deaths: Call for £20m rehab beds funding
Her call was echoed by party colleague Neil Findlay MSP, who also described First Minister Nicola Sturgeon’s decision to leave the Holyrood chamber before Mr Fitzpatrick’s ministerial statement as a “disgrace”.Speaking at Holyrood, Mr FitzPatrick said: “I think in the last two years we have taken considerable action to improve the service, the idea that I am not listening is just not factual.
“It is one of the things I have taken great care to do since being appointed to this post, to listen to people across Scotland with lived and living experience and those on the front line in this public health emergency.”
In response to calls for him to quit, he said: “I have heard her views, fortunately I have great confidence that across Scotland many of the people who are working at the front end of this public health emergency take a different view and continue to work really hard to turn this around.
“It’s easy to call names, it is easy to personalise, I am disappointed it has come from Monica Lennon.
“While I expected it from others in her benches, I don’t generally expect it from her.
“These figures are a tragedy, I think I will leave it there.”
Earlier, he said the Scottish Government is doing “everything in its powers” to tackle rising drug deaths.
Mr FitzPatrick has also committed to continue to urge the UK Government to change the law to legalise supervised drug consumption facilities or devolve the necessary powers to Scotland, something which it has repeatedly ruled out.
Speaking in the Commons, SNP MP Alison Thewliss (Glasgow Central) said: “The UK Government says Scotland will not be permitted, not allowed, not trusted to take further action to prevent the deaths of our citizens.
READ MORE: Drug Deaths: Rate in Scotland the highest in the EU
“Scotland accepts responsibility in the areas where we can act and we know we must do more, though we do this with our hands tied behind our back.”
The figures for 2019 show a 6% increase on 2018 – up from 1,187 – when Scotland also recorded the highest rate across Europe.
The rate of increase has slowed significantly since the 27% rise between 2017 and 2018.
Heroin and morphine were involved in more deaths than in any previous year – at 645 – and more than half of the total.
Methadone was involved in 560 fatalities, benzodiazepines of any form – street and prescription – in 999, and cocaine in 365.
A total of 404 deaths were in the Greater Glasgow and Clyde health board area, 163 in Lanarkshire, 155 in Lothian, 118 in Tayside and 108 in Ayrshire and Arran.
Nearly 70% of the deaths were men and more than two-thirds were aged between 35 and 54.
Opposition politicians and charities alike have called for more action to stop the deaths, saying each could have been prevented.
UK Government Minister Kit Malthouse said: “I am deeply concerned about the number of drug related deaths in Scotland.
“I am committed to working with the devolved administration in Scotland to tackle drug misuse and this year I held a UK-wide Drugs Summit in Glasgow, bringing together a range of experts.
“We will continue to support programmes which reduce the health-related harms of drugs, such as tightening controls on dangerous substances and widening the availability of treatments which prevent overdose deaths.”
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel