Hillhead Review

Scotland overall recorded a sharp fall in drug-related deaths in 2024, according to new figures from National Records of Scotland. A total of 1,017 people died from drug misuse, down 13% from the previous year and the lowest annual figure since 2017. 

In the Glasgow City Council area, 246 drug-related deaths were recorded in 2024: down from 185 in 2023, and the all-time high of 311 in 2021.

Despite the drop, Scotland continues to have the highest drug death rate in Europe. The age-standardised rate stood at 19.1 deaths per 100,000 people, more than three and a half times higher than in 2000. It is the seventh year in a row that Scotland has recorded the highest rate on the continent.

Men accounted for the majority of deaths in 2024, with 699 male fatalities compared with that of 318 women. Both fell by 13% from the previous year. The average age of those who died has also risen over time, from 32 in 2000 to 45 in 2024. 

People living in the most deprived areas were 12 times more likely to die from drug misuse than those in the least deprived communities. Glasgow, Dundee and Inverclyde recorded the highest death rates over the past five years.

The drugs most commonly implicated were opiates and opioids such as heroin and methadone, which were present in 80% of cases. Benzodiazepines were involved in 56% of deaths and cocaine in 47%. Cocaine-related deaths remained at record levels, with 479 in 2024, the same number as the previous year. Most cases, 9%, were classed as accidental poisonings, while 6 percent were intentional self-poisonings.

The Scottish Government has highlighted the figures as evidence that investment is beginning to make a difference. Its National Mission, launched in 2021, has pledged £250 million over five years to expand treatment and harm reduction. More than £115 million has been allocated for alcohol and drug services in the 2025/26 budget. Money has been directed towards residential rehabilitation, naloxone distribution, and pilot drug checking services, as well as targeted schemes for families and young people.

In January 2025 the Thistle Centre opened in Glasgow as the UK’s first legally sanctioned safer drug consumption facility. Funded by up to £2.3 million a year from the Scottish Government, it provides supervised spaces for drug use alongside healthcare and support services. Officials, such as Councillor Allan Casey say it is already helping to save lives, although a full evaluation is still underway.

In January 2025 the Thistle Centre opened in Glasgow as the UK’s first legally sanctioned safer drug consumption facility.

Opposition figures, however, warned that the crisis is far from resolved. The Scottish Conservatives described the figures as “devastating,” arguing they “laid bare the tragic human toll of Scotland’s drugs emergency which has spiralled out of control on the SNP’s watch.”

Annie Wells MSP, the party’s drugs spokesperson, said: “It’s heartbreaking and intolerable that so many lives continue to be lost, and so many families left bereft.” She added that SNP ministers “still have no coherent and credible strategy for tackling this national crisis.”

Councillor Thomas Kerr (now Reform UK, formerly Scottish Conservatives) highlighted community concerns over Glasgow’s Thistle Centre. On discarded drug paraphernalia near the facility, he said: “If a child picks up one of these needles, then God help us.”

In his coverage for Reform UK, Kerr also criticised what he sees as SNP complacency, arguing the issue “demands real solutions, not ‘welcomed decreases’.”

Campaigners warn, however, that Scotland’s drug crisis is not over. Potent synthetic opioids such as nitazenes have been linked to a growing number of deaths, with 76 fatalities recorded in 2024 and dozens more already in 2025.