YESTERDAY, the National Records of Scotland (NRS) outlined the latest drug death figures for Scotland.

Nicola Sturgeon admitted the numbers were 'unacceptable', adding what “what is required isn’t words, but action to prevent people dying”, stressing “that is what we are determined to deliver”.

Here, we outline the shameful toll of the last 14 years in ten points.

  • Scotland recorded 1,339 drug deaths in 2020 – a 5 per cent increase from 2019.
  • Since the SNP came to power, 10,663 people in Scotland have died from drug-related death.
  • The 2020 total is the highest annual number since records began in 1996.
  • Scotland has a drug deaths rate more than three-and-a-half times greater than the UK as a whole.
  • Scotland’s rate of 21.2 drug deaths per 100,000 people is the highest of any European country.
  • In Scotland, men are 2.7 times more likely to have a drug-related death than women.
  • Almost two-thirds of all drug deaths in Scotland last year were of people aged between 35 and 54.
  • The average age of drug-related deaths has increased from 32 to 43 years old over the last 20 years.
  • Greater Glasgow and Clyde has the highest drug death rate of all health boards in Scotland with 30.8 per 100,000 people.
  • In 93% of all drug-related deaths, more than one drug was found to be present in the body.

Read our full coverage of the latest drug deaths figures here: