Scotland's drugs problem
The Briefing Room
BBC
4.8 • 731 Ratings
🗓️ 4 August 2022
⏱️ 29 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Scotland has the worst figures for drug-related deaths anywhere in Europe. According to National Records for Scotland, 1,330 drug users died in 2021 - a slight improvement, but a death rate per capita which is still 4.8 times higher than England's.
Why do so many Scots die from drugs? And what more can be done to prevent it?
Joining David Aaronovitch in The Briefing Room are: James Cook, BBC Scotland Editor Kirsten Horsburgh, Director of Operations at the Scottish Drugs Forum Andrew McAuley, Glasgow Caledonian University Professor Catriona Matheson, University of Stirling Professor Alex Stevens, University of Kent
PHOTO: Nalaxone kits, which are being used to stop overdoses in Scotland. (Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images)
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | BBC Sounds, Music, Radio, Podcasts. |
| 0:09.0 | Welcome to the briefing room with me, David O'Ronovich. The briefing room is the |
| 0:14.4 | Metaversal Thought capsule in which inside 28 minutes you and I get to understand a big |
| 0:19.4 | issue with the help of the top experts on the subject. |
| 0:23.2 | This week, why are drug deaths in Scotland so much higher than in the rest of the UK? |
| 0:36.0 | The latest figures for drugs deaths in Scotland came out last week and they were terrible. |
| 0:41.3 | In fact, they've been terrible for some time. |
| 0:44.1 | They're tragic in themselves, of course, but understanding why they're so bad is to get to grips |
| 0:48.7 | with the ways in which people, policies and public health interact, not just in Scotland, but anywhere. |
| 0:55.9 | So, why do so many Scots die from drugs? |
| 1:00.0 | Step into the briefing room and together we'll find out. |
| 1:04.6 | First, let's have a summary of the latest data. |
| 1:07.6 | Joining me in the briefing room is the BBC's Scotland editor, James Cook. |
| 1:12.0 | James Cook, the latest figures on drug deaths in Scotland were released last week. What did they say? |
| 1:17.8 | Well, to be blunt, David, they confirm that Scotland is in the grip of a national emergency. |
| 1:22.7 | A really serious crisis. 1,330 people died of drug misuse in Scotland in 2021. And that number, which had been |
| 1:32.8 | actually rising for years, since 1996, it's been going up and up and up. It actually has fallen |
| 1:40.2 | slightly compared to the previous year, compared to 2020. It's down by nine deaths, but that still |
| 1:46.4 | leaves it by far, the highest level in the UK. It is 4.8 times the death rate from drug |
| 1:53.9 | misuse that England sees. And national records of Scotland statisticians say that the data across |
| 2:00.0 | Great Britain are collected in a similar way, |
| 2:02.3 | and you can make these comparisons. It's trickier to draw quite as precise a comparison with the rest of Europe |
... |
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