The number of drug-related deaths in Scotland rose by 12 per cent in 2023, according to a report published on Monday by the National Records Office for Scotland (NRS).
The report recorded 1,172 deaths from drug misuse last year, 121 more than the previous year. This is the second highest number of drug-related deaths since 2017, after the lowest number of 1,051 deaths in 2022. The highest number, 1,339 deaths, was recorded in 2020.
Despite the recent rise, the number of drug misuse deaths in Scotland remains significantly higher than in 2000. The report also highlights a worrying trend: the average age of those who die from drug misuse has risen from 32 to 45 since 2000.
The data also show that in 2023, males (805) are twice as likely as females (367) to die from drug abuse, and the average age of those who die from drug abuse has increased from 32 to 45 years since 2000.
The data show a stark gender disparity: males (805) are twice as likely to die from drug abuse as females (367). In addition, people living in the most deprived areas of Scotland were more than 15 times more likely to die from drug misuse compared to those living in the least deprived areas.
“The age at which people die from drug misuse has increased over the past two decades,” the report notes, explaining that in 2000, the highest death rate was among those under 35, but now it has shifted to those aged 35 to 54.
Opiates and opioids were implicated in 80 per cent of drug abuse deaths in 2023, and the majority (88 per cent) of these deaths were classified as ‘accidental poisonings’, with only seven per cent classified as deliberate self-poisoning.
Scotland’s rate of deaths from drug poisoning in 2022 was more than double that of the rest of the UK – England, Wales and Northern Ireland.
