Drug deaths in Scotland hit record high

[Turkmenbashi]

24 minutes ago, johnnydun said:

Something must be working in Edinburgh though, did it not used to be really bad for drug deaths?

Now behind Glasgow, Dundee and Aberdeen, in line with Fife according to the BBC map.

They all died in the 80s and 90s so less older users to kill, probably.

[coprolite]

1 hour ago, Caledonian1 said:

are the figure like for like?  Does Scotland record death by drugs over-dose differently to all other countries?

Good question, and the graph + number of deaths together suggest that the population is about 4.2m which is a bit low. But ~250 deaths per million would still be a huge outlier

https://www.gov.scot/policies/alcohol-and-drugs

"In total, there were over 1,136 alcohol-specific deaths and 1,187 drug-related deaths in Scotland in 2018" 

Suggests a difference between "specific" deaths from alcohol and "related" deaths from drugs. 

I followed a link or two to see if i could shed any light on the difference between the two definitions. I was unsuccessful in that but it appears from the following report that the Scotland figure used in the graph there is a total for four years, comparef to other countries' one. Whoever thought that this was helpful presentation is a total moron. 

https://www.gov.scot/binaries/content/documents/govscot/publications/minutes/2019/09/drug-deaths-task-force-meeting-september-2019/documents/ddtf-1-taskforce-paper-september-2019---drug-deaths-and-data-collection/ddtf-1-taskforce-paper-september-2019---drug-deaths-and-data-collection/govscot%3Adocument/DDTF%2Btaskforce%2B-%2BSeptember%2B2019%2B-%2Bdrug%2Bdeaths%2Band%2Bdata%2Bcollection.pdf

I can't extract the graph, apologies. 

Clearly people dying because of drug use is a problem nonetheless, just not necessarily much more so in Scotland. 

Edited December 15, 2020 by coprolite
Realised i am also a moron. It shows different totals for each of the four years. In the same column. Stand by my comment on the presentation.

[itzdrk]

33 minutes ago, johnnydun said:

Something must be working in Edinburgh though, did it not used to be really bad for drug deaths?

Now behind Glasgow, Dundee and Aberdeen, in line with Fife according to the BBC map.

Make it too expensive for them to live in? 

[Lex]

Heartbreaking figures.

[Gus Setsniffer]

18 minutes ago, Turkmenbashi said:

They all died in the 80s and 90s so less older users to kill, probably.

that's the case with all the guys i went to school with, more or less all gone, wouldn't have a clue how things are with the kids today, but i believe coke is rife

[John Lambies Doos]

Scottish Government need to be doing more on this

[moniton]

It can't be allowed to continue like this. My daughter was informed by a consultant in RAH that Inverclyde has the highest number of intravenous drug users in the country (not sure if Scotland or UK) at a staggering 2% of the population.

[101]

1 hour ago, jamamafegan said:

We could of course just copy other countries like Portugal where what they do seems to work instead of...instead of what we do now? Why do we not do that?

Welcome to devolution. I wonder if there is a way to decriminalise possession, for personal use, but I would fear doing that without safe places to take drugs would end up making things worse. If anyone has to be punished in out ridiculous system then dealers and smugglers should be utterly battered by the courts, their actions clearly have an enormous effect of the lives or many people c***s the lot of them.

[The Moonster]

41 minutes ago, John Lambies Doos said:

Scottish Government need to be doing more on this

What would you like to see done?

[Rob1885]

Even worse that this report/news just gets buried with all the covid-related stuff going on at the minute. Really shite reading.

[GNU_Linux]

35 minutes ago, MixuFruit said:

Nobody can afford to live in Edinburgh, gentrification has its perks I guess.

Anyway my idea for fixing this is we do nothing and then when people in exasperation take matters into their own hands with a safe consumption van we should arrest them. That seems like the most sensible approach.

I believe the correct term in political parlance is tOuGh On CrImE

[John Lambies Doos]

What would you like to see done?

Tackle the root cause of drug addiction. I appreciate the Scottish government are being held back on aspects of this, eg counseling in injection rooms, by UK government But....with it 3.5 times higher than rest of UK, the Scottish government must shoulder some of the blame

[101]

3 minutes ago, John Lambies Doos said:

21 minutes ago, The Moonster said:

What would you like to see done?

Tackle the root cause of drug addiction. I appreciate the Scottish government are being held back on aspects of this, eg counseling in injection rooms, by UK government But....with it 3.5 times higher than rest of UK, the Scottish government must shoulder some of the blame

We are about to shove our fragile economy off a cliff edge from a no deal Brexit I've still yet to see if the UK will keep up the levels of funding the EU gave us if they don't then it will be impossible to bring people up in a country that protects them for situations that lead to drug use and eventually drug addiction and then drug abuse.

Tbh sticking heroin users on methadone for life is something that has to be looked at.

[John Lambies Doos]

We are about to shove our fragile economy off a cliff edge from a no deal Brexit I've still yet to see if the UK will keep up the levels of funding the EU gave us if they don't then it will be impossible to bring people up in a country that protects them for situations that lead to drug use and eventually drug addiction and then drug abuse.
Tbh sticking heroin users on methadone for life is something that has to be looked at.

Not disputing any of that but the fact that we are 3.5times more than rest of UK is not the sole fault of the UK Government

[Miguel Sanchez]

I'm surprised to see Sweden, Finland and Norway near the top of the list given the apparent high quality of life and wealth often reported there. 

[John Lambies Doos]

I'm surprised to see Sweden, Finland and Norway near the top of the list given the apparent high quality of life and wealth often reported there. 

Sunlight

[Aubrey Maturin]

13 minutes ago, 101 said:

We are about to shove our fragile economy off a cliff edge from a no deal Brexit I've still yet to see if the UK will keep up the levels of funding the EU gave us if they don't then it will be impossible to bring people up in a country that protects them for situations that lead to drug use and eventually drug addiction and then drug abuse.

Tbh sticking heroin users on methadone for life is something that has to be looked at.

Parking people on substitute prescriptions does  not work, we have been doing that for nearly 30 years.

Its about behavioural change through effective support, education, job opportunities.   

That does not mean sending someone to the chemist every morning for methadone and that's job done.

The amount of deaths due to poly drug use that has methadone included is substantial.

Its too simplistic to say give methadone and all will be well.  

[NotThePars]

Nobody can afford to live in Edinburgh, gentrification has its perks I guess.
Anyway my idea for fixing this is we do nothing and then when people in exasperation take matters into their own hands with a safe consumption van we should arrest them. That seems like the most sensible approach.

Good to see I’ve found one of Paul Sweeney’s reply guys

[The Moonster]

15 minutes ago, John Lambies Doos said:

Tackle the root cause of drug addiction. I appreciate the Scottish government are being held back on aspects of this, eg counseling in injection rooms, by UK government But....with it 3.5 times higher than rest of UK, the Scottish government must shoulder some of the blame

I totally agree. The root cause of drug addiction can be various different things but I'd say one of the largest contributors is poverty. It's another thing that is difficult for the SG to tackle in our current situation. We could improve things with education, not just educating people on drugs but in trying to improve the qualifications kids actually leave school with. 

8 minutes ago, 101 said:

We are about to shove our fragile economy off a cliff edge from a no deal Brexit I've still yet to see if the UK will keep up the levels of funding the EU gave us if they don't then it will be impossible to bring people up in a country that protects them for situations that lead to drug use and eventually drug addiction and then drug abuse.

Tbh sticking heroin users on methadone for life is something that has to be looked at.

That fragile economy could be helped massively if the UK decided to legalise weed, considering it was responsible for precisely 0 of the deaths being reported here. 

[yoda]

You, an upstanding citizen: "this is sad. one death is a tragedy. something must be done."

Also you, an upstanding citizen: "junkie scum."

Edited December 15, 2020 by yoda