Country has Europe’s worst drugs death rate, more than three-and-a-half times higher than rest of UK
Drugs deaths in Scotland have hit a new record after 1,339 people died last year from overdoses or the cumulative effects of years of addiction.
National Records of Scotland, the statistics agency, said the figure was a 5% increase on drugs-related fatalities registered in 2019. The country continues to have the worst drug death rate in Europe, with 21.2 deaths per 1,000 of the population, more than three-and-a-half times higher than the rest of the UK. It is the seventh annual increase in a row.
