Drug death figures reveal a “public health emergency”
Commenting on the drug death figures published by National Records of Scotland today, Scottish Greens health and social care spokesperson Gillian Mackay MSP said:
“Every single one of these deaths is a preventable tragedy. The figures published today remind us of the devastating impact addiction has on communities across Scotland.
“While it is welcome to see a slight reduction in the overall deaths recorded, these figures still represent the second highest number of annual drug deaths on record and show that much more work is required to address this public health emergency.
“The war on drugs approach, pursued for decades in this country, has evidently failed. It is long past time that we adopted an approach which focuses on restoring people’s dignity and treating their addiction, rather than criminalising them.”