Rise in Highland drug deaths: 2022<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\nThat was 12 men and nine women in 2024, compared with 21 men and five women the previous year.<\/p>\n
The local drop reflects a wider national trend. Across Scotland, 1017 drug misuse deaths were registered in 2024, down 13 per cent (155 fewer deaths) from the year before. It is the lowest national total since 2017.<\/p>\n
Despite the overall decrease, Highland politicians believe there is still much room for improvement.<\/p>\n
Drugs and Alcohol Policy Minister Maree Todd, who is also MSP for Caithness, Sutherland and Ross, said \u201cthere is still work to be done\u201d by the Scottish Government.<\/p>\n
She said: \u201cWe will continue to do everything we can to save and improve lives.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is particularly true as we face new threats from highly dangerous synthetic opioids like nitazenes, which further raise the risk of overdose and death.<\/p>\n
Todd highlighted record levels of funding for drug and alcohol programmes, alongside efforts to widen access to treatment, residential rehabilitation and life-saving naloxone. She said the government had also supported the opening of the UK\u2019s first Safer Drug Consumption Facility and was working to deliver drug-checking services.<\/p>\n
She noted that more than 300 organisations and projects had received government backing, helping to expand grassroots support. But, she stressed: \u201cwe will always want to do more and will continue to work hard to adapt to new patterns of consumption and demand to direct support where it is most needed.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"Drug](\"data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg)
Drug misuse remains a serious issue across the Highlands, despite a slight fall in deaths in 2024.\u201d<\/p>\n
Edward Mountain, Scottish Conservative MSP, said that Maree Todd\u2019s claim that \u2018there is still work to be done\u2019 was \u201ca huge understatement.\u201d<\/p>\n
He added: \u201cAlthough these figures represent a slight fall in drugs deaths since the previous year, over 1000 people still lost their lives to drug misuse in 2024. This is really sad and unacceptable.<\/p>\n
\u201cScotland has, by far, the highest drugs death rate in Europe. There are also worrying reports that drugs deaths have been rising again in 2025.<\/p>\n
\u201cScots need and deserve the right to safe recovery, and the Scottish Government need a far more robust plan of action to acknowledge and tackle the ongoing crisis.\u201d<\/p>\n
His party colleague, Douglas Ross, highlighted the particular challenges faced by people in rural and remote areas such as the Highlands in accessing rehabilitation services. He urged the Scottish Government to support his Right to Recovery Bill, which would guarantee a legal right to rehabilitation, calling it \u201ca potential game-changer\u201d in tackling Scotland\u2019s drug deaths emergency.<\/p>\n
Scottish Greens MSP Ariane Burgess said: \u201cAny reduction in drug-related deaths is welcome, but the numbers remain tragically high. We must remember that this crisis is rooted in poverty, trauma, and inequality.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe fact that drug deaths are most prevalent in our poorest communities is a stark reminder that we cannot tackle addiction without tackling the conditions that fuel it. \u201c<\/p>\n
She added that the party\u2019s stance was clear: \u201cWe need a public health approach to drug policy, not a punitive one. That means investing in harm reduction, supporting recovery services, and addressing the deep inequalities in our society through wealth redistribution and social justice.<\/p>\n
\u201cEvery life lost is preventable – and every person deserves support, dignity, and hope.\u201d<\/p>\n
Fergus Ewing, Independent MSP for Inverness and Nairn, said more focus was needed on frontline help.<\/p>\n
He said: \u201cI welcome the good work done locally by individual projects. But too many who need help are still not able to access it.<\/p>\n
\u201cAny reduction in deaths is welcome, as each loss of life is a tragedy of itself, and devastating for the families suffering loss.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ewing urged the Scottish Government to prioritise frontline addiction support, arguing that funding should be redirected from less essential areas to ensure more people can access the help they need to overcome addiction and rebuild their lives.<\/p>\n
Do you want to respond to this article? If so, click here<\/b><\/a> to submit your thoughts and they may be published in print. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The number of people in the Highlands who died due to drug misuse fell last year, compared to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":394131,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8816],"tags":[748,1102,4884,105,1501,712,16,15,5900,20248],"class_list":{"0":"post-394130","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-edinburgh","8":"tag-britain","9":"tag-edinburgh","10":"tag-great-britain","11":"tag-health","12":"tag-latest-news","13":"tag-scotland","14":"tag-uk","15":"tag-united-kingdom","16":"tag-update-me","17":"tag-whats-on-news"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115139507859981195","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/394130","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=394130"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/394130\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/394131"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=394130"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=394130"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=394130"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}