Summary
As Scottish drug deaths continue to climb, Brig researches why, and what can be done.
The UK Government launched a new 10-year drugs plan in 2022. According to the official statement, the plan promises ‘to cut crime and save lives.’
The policy emphasises the illegality of drug use. Addicts are painted as responsible for almost half of burglaries and robberies in the UK. The policy calls for harsher punishments for recreational drug users too.
The National Office of Statistics reports that 1,172 people in Scotland died of drug misuse in 2023, 121 more than in 2022. Drug deaths in 2023 were 4.2 times higher than they were in 2000.
The term ‘misuse’ makes sense upon closer examination of the report, which also says that ‘almost 9 out of 10 of drug misuse deaths were classified as accidental poisonings.’
‘We have a toxic drug supply,’ says Morgan-Lewis Wilson, a training development officer at harm reduction charity Crew 2000. ‘Drugs are contaminated with all kinds of substances, and there are increasingly dangerous ones getting out there.’
When the Taliban seized control of Afghanistan in 2021, the large-scale opium production that fed the world’s drug market nosedived by 95 per cent, according to some UN reports, flooding the world’s market with synthetic opioids to fill the gap.
‘You’ll know Fentanyl,’ Morgan explains, ‘but there’s nitazenes, which are arguably worse, and xylazines, contaminated animal tranquillisers that cause skin lesions and ulcers and serious, serious illness.’
‘What we actually need is a safer supply.’
To this end, Crew 2000 distributes drug checking kits, allowing users to test particular substances for any potentially dangerous contaminants.
‘We also run drug counselling services to help people get to the bottom of their relationship with drugs. We have volunteers at festivals so people have a place to chill out if they need to. We’re trained to mitigate overdoses.’
Harm reduction is hardly new. Harm reduction models were a result of 1980’s local action in Merseyside, leading the Conservative government to begrudgingly accept that preventing the spread of HIV was more important than stopping people from using heroin. This led to the introduction of medicine assisted treatment (opioid agonist therapy, or OAT), such as methadone prescriptions, still in place in Scottish drug policy. Clinics in Fife are even trialling benzodiazepine assisted treatment, supervised by case workers for each patient.
‘People who have addictions need to be able to acquire the drug that they’re addicted to in a way that’s not going to poison them. If somebody is addicted, they have an illness. They’re not necessarily sick, and they may be perfectly functional, but it’s a health problem, and it’s something that causes a lot of harm when it gets out of control. Providing medicine is the appropriate response. And I think we should experiment with legalisation too.’
However, at the UK level, the 2010 Conservative government shifted to a focus on ‘intervention and addiction recovery.’ Some think the same should happen here, according to Anne-Marie Ward, the CEO of addiction recovery charity, FAVOR UK. The charity’s work has involved running community projects for people with addiction issues to share their experiences, and community outreach projects to consult on local initiatives to treat drug-related harm. Lately, Ward’s work largely focuses on promoting the ‘Right to Recovery’ bill, proposed in May last year by former Scottish Conservative leader Douglas Ross.
The Bill proposes that recovery treatment should become a legal right for addicts, including residential and community based care. It lays out a plan for patients to be assessed by a doctor and to receive a ‘treatment determination’ – a recommended care approach that they can access within three weeks. Progress on how these treatment initiatives must be reported to the UK Parliament every year.
‘Scottish drug policy is overly reliant on harm reduction strategies, which perpetuate dependency rather than providing pathways to recovery,’ she argues. ‘This approach reflects the failures of neoliberal governance—it manages harm without addressing the deeper socioeconomic inequalities driving addiction. Policies need to shift from short-term crisis management to long-term solutions, including robust recovery services, proper mental health care, and investment in socioeconomic reform.’
Her remarks come as Scotland’s first safer consumption room, ‘The Thistle,’ opens this year. The idea is to provide a clean, supervised space for those who inject drugs to do so, with an aftercare space for users to socialise. Such spaces have existed in various European countries for almost thirty years, and 2018 EU studies report a significant decrease in injection related injuries and infections. In Scotland, the plan also includes providing and safely disposing of injection equipment.
‘While they claim to reduce immediate harms like public injection and overdoses, they fail to address the systemic causes of addiction. They risk normalising a system that sees lifelong dependency as inevitable and acceptable,’ says Anne-Marie. ‘This reflects a failure of governance, managing addiction rather than solving it. Glasgow’s safe consumption room is emblematic of a system that has abandoned meaningful recovery pathways in favour of containment,’ Anne-Marie says. Indeed, a series of UK governments have focused on reducing the number of OAT patients in the first place, and moving those undergoing the treatment away from it as early as possible.
Research has long drawn a link between lower income-deprived demographics and increased drug use. However, to suggest that all those in poverty develop addictions is dangerous.
Studies cited in the Scottish Drug Forum’s 2024 report argue a myriad of reasons. A way to facilitate a greater sense of social inclusion. A response to stress caused by more limited opportunities. Economically deprived individuals lumped together into communities through housing areas, community projects, recreational spaces. As social links form, the availability of drugs and a culture of problem use spreads. This trickles up into forming stereotypes, colouring societal attitudes and government policy.
‘Drug policy and drug related deaths in Scotland are highly politicised. When something goes wrong, it’s the government’s fault. And when something goes right, it’s the government’s win,’ Morgan says. ‘The socio-economic issues that give rise to addiction issues are becoming worse. We need to improve people’s lives.’
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