Evaluating the impact of public health interventions in Scotland's Drug-Related Death epidemic (Extension Feb '23)

In Scotland, 1187 Drug-Related Deaths (DRD) were recorded in 2018, the highest annual total since records began and more than double the number recorded a decade ago. Scotland also has the highest per capita DRD rate in the European Union (213 deaths per million population), nearly three times higher than the UK DRD rate combined (74 per million), and higher than many regions internationally. The majority of these deaths have consistently involved opioids (heroin, morphine or methadone). Scotland’s unacceptably high DRD rate has been the subject of a Parliamentary inquiry and has been linked to a complex interplay of factors including polydrug use, ageing, multi-morbidity, stigma, poverty and deprivation. In response, the Scottish Government established a task force in 2019 with a remit to “to co-ordinate and drive action to improve the health outcomes for people who use drugs, reducing the risk of harm and death”.