Scotland's public health minister has written to the Home Secretary for a third time calling for an urgent meeting to discuss the rise in drug deaths.
Joe FitzPatrick said he has written again having received no response to his previous letters to Priti Patel and her predecessor Sajid Javid.
Deaths caused by drugs in Scotland rose by more than a quarter last year to 1,187 - a higher rate than anywhere in Europe and the highest since current records began in 1996.
Mr FitzPatrick said the issue should be a priority for both governments and said that First Minister Nicola Sturgeon had raised the issue with Boris Johnson last month.
In a letter dated August 23, he wrote: "You will be aware that our First Minister also highlighted this growing problem when she met the Prime Minister in Edinburgh on July 29. I believe Mr Johnson indicated a willingness for his government to engage on this important issue.
"As I set out in my previous correspondence, I consider that the matter of drug deaths should be a priority for both our governments. Your predecessor Mr Javid, and your colleagues, Mr Mundell and Mr Hancock, expressed similar concerns over the matter and stated they would seek to make progress on a collaborative basis.
"I hope you can commit to attending a summit on this subject in Glasgow which we plan to host in the near future.
"Our aim is to bring together a range of expertise to help shape the next steps that can be taken to reduce harm and save lives."
It is understood the Home Office has received the letter and will respond in due course.
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