Statistics published by the National Records of Scotland on Tuesday show the number of deaths caused by drug misuse fell by 13% to 1017 last year – the lowest level registered since 2017.
According to the figures, there were 155 fewer deaths in 2024 compared to the previous year.
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The council area with the highest amount of drug deaths is Glasgow City, although it has decreased by 25% (56 deaths) compared to the previous year.
Edinburgh‘s rate decreased by 17%, while Aberdeen‘s went down by 19%.
Glasgow is home to Scotland’s first safe consumption room, the Thistle Centre, which opened in the city’s east end in January.
The facility allows those addicted to intravenous drugs to inject under the supervision of medical professionals. As of the end of June, the service had been used 3554 times to inject by 377 different people.
The National reported how officials at Edinburgh City Council have identified two possible locations for a safe consumption room in the capital. If it goes ahead, it would be the second safe consumption room in Scotland.
In light of the figures published on Tuesday – which reflect 2024, before the Thistle Centre opened – the Scottish Greens called for an expansion of safe consumption rooms and funding for support services.
Scottish Greens MSP Maggie Chapman urged the Scottish Government to “grasp the urgency of this situation”, and to take further action to end drug-related deaths.
“These deaths have not happened in isolation. A key factor is lack of appropriate and accessible support. And, with daily life becoming increasingly challenging to cope with for so many people, we must see a shift in approach.”
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Chapman said that while the opening of the safe consumption facility in Glasgow has been a “positive step”, those services “need to be expanded across Scotland’s communities”.
She added: “We need to focus on harm reduction and treat drug misuse and addiction as the health issues that they are, rather than as criminal ones.
“There must be greater action from all levels of government, including both Holyrood and Westminster, or we will continue to see more tragedies and more lives being lost needlessly.”
Speaking to The National, an expert backed calls for more safe consumption rooms to be opened in Scotland.
Roy Robertson, a professor of addiction medicine at the University of Edinburgh, said that the Thistle Centre in Glasgow is “a wonderful new resource”.
Robertson told The National he was “delighted that it is now up and running after years of lobbying to get such a facility”, adding that he hopes a second facility will open in Edinburgh “soon”.
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Robertson said potential explanations for the decrease could point towards policy interventions, such as better recruitment into treatment roles, as well as increased public health awareness – but he clarified that it was too soon to tell from the figures.
However, he added: “The [Thistle] clinic will, of course, have an indirect effect in drawing attention to the problems in the city and any public education will have an impact.”
Despite the overall decrease in drug deaths, Robertson stressed that the totals were still “staggeringly high”, as he called for more public information on the risks of drugs like cocaine, updated clinical guidelines as well as more infrastructure in clinical services.
