There were a total of 1,017 drug misuse deaths in 2024, according to latest statistics published by National Records of Scotland.
This is a decrease of 13% (155 deaths) compared with 2023 and the lowest number registered since 2017.
Drug misuse deaths increased over the last two decades to their peak in 2020. They have generally decreased since then, with the exception of a 12% increase in 2023.
Drug misuse deaths are much more common in the most deprived communities. For all causes of death, mortality rates are around twice as high in the most deprived areas as the least deprived. When it comes to drug misuse deaths it’s 12 times as high in the most deprived communities.
Glasgow City, Dundee City and Inverclyde council areas had the highest rates of drug misuse deaths in the period 2020-2024.
Phillipa Haxton, Head of Vital Events Statistics, said:
“These statistics show a decrease in drug misuse deaths over the last year and represent the lowest number of deaths in the last seven years.
“The longer term trend shows that drug misuse deaths are still much more common than they were two decades ago.
“The statistics also provide information about the people who died of a drug misuse death. The figures show us that males continue to be more than twice as likely to have a drug misuse death as females.”
After adjusting for age, there were 19.1 drug misuse deaths per 100,000 people in 2024. This was 3.6 times as high as compared to the year 2000.
The most common drugs implicated were opiates and opioids (present in 80% of deaths), benzodiazepines (56%) and cocaine (47%). While deaths involving opiates and opioids, and benzodiazepines decreased in 2024, deaths which implicated cocaine remained at their highest level on record, with 479 deaths for the second consecutive year.
More than nine out of ten (91%) of drug misuse deaths were classified as accidental poisonings, with 6% classed as intentional self-poisonings.
The rate of drug poisoning deaths in Scotland in 2023 was around two to three times the rate of other UK countries. This is in line with the longer term trend, with Scotland having a higher rate for the last decade.
The drug poisoning mortality rate in Scotland in 2023 was 2.8 times as high as the rates in England and Northern Ireland, and 1.9 times as high as the rate in Wales. Data for 2023 is the most recent year that data is available across the UK.
When comparing Scotland and the rest of the UK, the drug poisoning definition should be used.
