1. Introduction

1.1 This annual publication provides statistics of drug-related deaths which were registered in Scotland over the period from 1996. The figures were produced using a definition of ‘drug-related deaths’ which was introduced in 2001 for the 'baseline' figures for the UK Drugs Strategy. This definition was agreed by a working party set up following the publication, by the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs, of a report on 'Reducing drug related deaths'. The Office for National Statistics has also prepared data on drug-related deaths in England and Wales using this definition. These statistics are used in the development of policy by the Scottish Government, to inform the discussions and recommendations of its National Forum on Drug-related Deaths, and by a number of other interested parties such as NHS Boards and local Alcohol and Drug Partnerships.

1.2 Section 2 gives some background on the collection of information on drug-related deaths in Scotland. Section 3 describes the figures for Scotland, Section 4 covers the statistics for NHS Board areas, and Section 5 refers to the figures for Council areas and the potential problems that may affect the figures for these and smaller areas. Annex A sets out the definition of drug-related deaths used in this publication, Annex B refers to some other definitions of drug-related deaths, and gives figures for them and for deaths from some other causes that may be associated with present or past drug misuse. Annex C provides some References and Annex D contains the questionnaire used to collect further information about drug-related deaths with effect from 2008. Annex E covers so-called New Psychoactive Substances, and Annex F explains the basis of the consistent series of drug-related death numbers. The tables and charts can be grouped as follows:

• Tables 1 to 9, Figure 1 - statistics for Scotland;
• Tables HB1 to HB5, Figure 2 - statistics for NHS Board areas;
• Tables C1 to C5, Figure 3 - statistics for Council areas; and
• Tables X to Z, NPS1 to NPS3, CS1 and CS2, Figure 4 - statistics which are not on the standard basis.

In the tables, '..' indicates 'not available' or 'not applicable'. There may be slight discrepancies between some of the figures in different tables for some of the years from 2000 to 2006, due to the use of a new database (as explained in paragraph A4 of Annex A).

1.3 The following improvements have been made for this edition:

• Annex F and Tables CS1 and CS2 have been added, to provide more information about a consistent series of the number of drug-related deaths, based upon the classification of each drug at the end of the latest year which is covered by this publication;
• Tables 3, 6, 7, HB3 and C3 have all been expanded to include columns for 'heroin/morphine, methadone or buprenorphine', 'codeine or a codeine-containing compound', 'dihydrocodeine or a dihydrocodeine-containing compound', and 'any opiate or opioid'. Temazepam has been dropped from these tables because it has been implicated in relatively few deaths in recent years;
• Table 4 has been expanded to provide separate figures for '14 and under' and '15 to 24', and likewise for '55 to 64' and '65 and over';
• Table 8 has been expanded to show the average of the rates for 2000 to 2004;
• Table Y has been expanded to show ten more drugs, or groups of drugs; and
• Part (a) of Table NPS2 has a new sub-section (iii).

1.4 Users of the statistics are reminded that, with effect from the 2009 edition of this publication, the standard basis of the figures for individual drugs for 2008 and subsequent years is 'drugs which were implicated in, or which potentially contributed to, the cause of death'. Section 2 of the 2009 edition included an explanation of why there was a change from the basis which was used before then ('all drugs which were [reported as having been] found present in the body'), which did not actually cover all drugs in all cases. Some information about this is given in paragraphs 2.3 to 2.5 of this edition.

Table 6 allows users of the statistics to compare the figures for 2014 on the two bases, and also shows how the numbers on the two bases for 2014 break down by sex and by age-group. In addition, alternative versions of Tables HB3 and C3 are available on this web site (via links from the pages which give access to the editions for 2008 to 2014), providing figures for NHS Boards and Councils on the following bases:

• for 2008 on the standard basis ('drugs which were implicated in, or which potentially contributed to, the cause of death'); and
• for 2009 to 2014 on the basis which was used in the editions of the publication for 2008 and earlier years ('all drugs which were [reported as having been] found present in the body').

More detailed statistical information about the nature and circumstances of people whose deaths were drug-related is available in the reports from the NHS's National Drug Related Deaths Database, which are described briefly in paragraph B9 of Annex B.

1.7 Some of the figures for 2013 that were published in the previous edition have been revised slightly, following a correction to the drug name ‘look-up table’ that is used to determine (e.g.) whether each drug that has been reported as being found in a body is one that should be counted as a controlled substance for the purpose of the standard definition that is used to produce these statistics. An error in the look-up table entry for one drug led to one death wrongly not being counted as drug-related. Correcting the error has raised the total number of drug-related deaths, registered in 2013, from 526 to 527. Some of the other figures (e.g. the number of females, the number aged 25-34) have also increased as a result.