More safe drug consumption rooms are needed in Scotland to tackle the country’s drug deaths, a West Dunbartonshire councillor has said.
New figures from the National Records of Scotland (NRS) issued earlier this month show that there were 23 drug misuse deaths in West Dunbartonshire in 2024 compared to 26 in 2023 and 20 in 2022.
There were a total of 1017 drug misuse deaths in Scotland last year, meaning Scotland has the highest number of drug deaths in Europe.
The NRS table also shows that of the 1017 deaths in Scotland, 185 of those happened in Glasgow City, a drop on the previous year which had 246 drug deaths.
The UK’s first safer drug consumption facility opened in Glasgow in January this year and offers a safe place for people to inject their own drugs under clinical supervision and access a wide range of treatment and support.
READ MORE: 'Every life lost is a tragedy': West Dunbartonshire drug deaths above average
Leven ward councillor Jim Bollan says more projects like this are needed to help people with drug addictions.
Councillor Bollan said: “While the small reduction in drug deaths locally is welcome, Scotland still has one of the highest drug death numbers in Europe. In areas of poverty and deprivation in Scotland, you are twelve times more likely to die of drug misuse than in more affluent areas.
“We need more projects like the one recently started in Glasgow, providing safer drug consumption facilities staffed by health professionals. We need more drug rehab facilities.
“We also need community-based facilities/programmes serviced by NHS professionals as an alternative to detention, which the courts can use instead of the revolving door, where people with addictions are constantly in and out of jail as a consequence of their addiction.”
Fiona Hennebry, the council's health and social care spokesperson and vice chair of the Health and Social Care Partnership believes it is a scandal that Scotland still has the highest number of drug deaths in the whole of Europe.
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Councillor Hennebry said: “Our drug death rates had grown exponentially under the SNP Scottish Government.
“The Scottish Government were pushed into declaring it a public health emergency in September 2019 by the families which forced them to take action and to reverse some of the cuts they had made over previous years.
“Sadly, since the Scottish Government declared their public health emergency, there have been more than 6,000 drug deaths in Scotland.
“Every drug death is a personal tragedy for the person, their family and friends. It’s heartbreaking that we are still losing over 1,000 of our people every year.
“It’s clear that much more has to be done to further reduce the number of drug deaths in Scotland.”
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