Scotland’s drug death rate is highest in Europe

That’s the view of the chairman of a committee charged with investigating the issue.

Pete Wishart MP, who chairs the Scottish Affairs Committee, blasted the UK Government’s response this week to the Problem Drug Use in Scotland Report – published in November 2019.

That report clearly showed Scotland had a big problem on its hands; in 2018, an all-time high of 1187 people lost their lives to drug use.

Tackling the issue has been fraught by public disagreement between UK and Scottish Governments over their divergent approaches and overlapping responsibilities.

The inquiry provided an evidence-based set of recommendations, concluding that innovative approaches were needed to address the root causes of the problem.

It recommended that problem drug use should be treated as a public health emergency and called for the decriminalisation of small amounts of drugs for personal use and the opening of a pilot safe consumption room in Glasgow.

However, the UK Government’s response fell far short of what was hoped for and it ruled out declaring the issue a public health emergency.

Mr Wishart said: “We are surprised and disappointed by the government’s almost wholesale rejection of recommendations by a Westminster Select Committee after collecting a substantial body of evidence from people with lived experience, charities and academics, as well as legal, criminal justice and health professional. Few will find comfort in this response.

“On the proposal for safe consumption facilities, the Government has repeatedly stressed that this is something it does not favour.

“In its response to our report, it re-iterated the legal challenges to a pilot being established, even though we saw for ourselves how effective these facilities have been in saving lives in a number of countries round the world.

“What is evident is there’s little change in the Government’s drugs strategy, despite the death rate in Scotland from problem drug use remaining stubbornly higher than any country in Europe.

“This fact in itself should demonstrate that the current approach isn’t working.

“This is undoubtedly a public health emergency.”

The committee will now examine the government’s response in more detail before meeting later this month.

Mr Wishart added: “The coronavirus crisis has presented new hurdles to those seeking recovery and access to services has become more difficult while the scale of the problem has not diminished.”