Drug-related deaths in Scotland rise as figure remains worst in Europe

The number of people dying due to drug misuse in Scotland has increased - with the country once again having the worst fatality rate in Europe.

Data from National Records of Scotland (NRS) showed there were a total of 1,133 drug-related deaths in 2025 - a rise of 116 (11%) from the previous year.

The rate of 21.4 deaths per 100,000 people is four times as high as the rate in the year 2000, when current records began.

The highest number of fatalities recorded in a single year was in 2020, when 1,339 people died.

There was a 19% increase in drug use deaths in males (830) and a 5% decrease in females (303) compared to 2024. The average age at death was 46.

Cocaine was implicated in more than half of all deaths (589), a surge of 23% from 2024.

Nitazenes - synthetic opioids - were implicated in 247 deaths, with etonitazene the most common (215).

Phillipa Haxton, head of vital events statistics for NRS, said: "The number of drug use deaths in Scotland is below the peak of 2020, but still the sixth highest year on record.

"Deaths among males drove the latest increase. The number of deaths among females is at its lowest since 2017.

"More than one drug was implicated in 78% of drug use deaths.

"The drugs most commonly implicated in deaths continue to be opiates or opioids, cocaine and benzodiazepines."

The statistics cover the first full operating year of The Thistle, the UK's first safer drug consumption facility.

It opened in Glasgow in January 2025 in a bid to reduce drug-related deaths on a local level, and allows users to consume drugs under supervision in a clean and hygienic environment.

According to Glasgow City Health and Social Care Partnership, the service has been accessed 22,533 times by 809 people up to August 2026 (10,819 times in 2025).

There have been 15,688 injecting episodes (7,460 in 2025). and 195 medical emergencies (88 in 2025).

According to the NRS statistics, the Glasgow City Council area recorded the highest rate of deaths, increasing from 185 in 2024 to 196 (5.9%).

Scotland does not have as many drug deaths as some of its neighbouring countries in Europe, but it outranks them all in terms of the number of deaths per million inhabitants.

After adjusting for age, the drug poisoning mortality rate in Scotland is 2.4 times the rate of England, 1.6 times the rate of Northern Ireland, and 1.5 times the rate of Wales - with these figures covering 2024, the most recent year that data is available for all parts of the UK.

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Alcohol and drugs minister Maree Todd said: "Against an increasingly toxic and unpredictable drugs supply, this rise is deeply concerning and unacceptable.

"The increase in deaths involving cocaine, and the continued threat from dangerous synthetic opioids like nitazenes, must drive more coordinated action across the country.

"We have taken important steps forward, including funding more than 1,100 residential rehabilitation placements last year and widening access to treatment and life-saving naloxone.

"However, despite these policy interventions, and the actions of our valued frontline workers, it is clear we need to do much more to reduce this tragic loss of life."

The Scottish Conservatives said the "horrific figures" show the SNP's approach to tackling the crisis had "catastrophically failed".

MSP Miles Briggs, the party's health and care spokesperson, added: "Scotland's drug deaths rate remains the worst in Europe and that should shame the SNP.

"They cannot continue to double down on their policies when the number of lives being lost has soared over the last year.

"They must shut down their flagship Thistle facility in Glasgow and ditch any plans for more state-sponsored drug taking at drug consumption rooms, including in Edinburgh."

The nation's first local drug-checking service will open next month in Glasgow at the same site as The Thistle, at Hunter Street Health and Care Centre.

The harm-reduction service will take samples of users' drugs and show them exactly what they contain.

The Scottish government has invested more than £1.7m into the pilot programme - with facilities also due to open in Aberdeen and Dundee, and a further centre is planned for Edinburgh.

Samples taken on site will be sent to a newly established national lab - hosted by the Leverhulme Research Centre for Forensic Science at the University of Dundee - for further analysis as part of an early warning system to enable services to respond faster to emerging trends.

Paul Bowley, chief executive of rehabilitation provider Abbeycare, said: "Scotland remains in the grip of a drugs death crisis, which is being made even more difficult to control by the emergence of new synthetic opioids and other substances.

"It is clear that the national mission to reduce the harms caused by drugs has much work still to do, with more investment needed in treatment and recovery services and clearer pathways for people to seek help."

Morgan Moore, head of prevention at Planet Youth in Scotland, added: "Downstream, crisis level efforts like safe consumption rooms, needle exchanges and naloxone are all vital for saving lives.

"However, it's clear the root cause of the problems are still to be addressed as we see an unacceptable amount of drug deaths continue to rise in our communities.

"If we are actually going to solve the problem, we must act seriously on prevention - and start addressing the issues that lead people, especially younger people, to taking drugs in the first place."

(c) Sky News 2026: Drug-related deaths in Scotland rise as figure remains worst in Europe