1,065 drugs deaths last year

Responding to new Police Scotland figures showing that there were 1,065 suspected drug deaths between January and December 2024, Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Alex Cole-Hamilton MSP said:

“It is a national tragedy that so many lives are still being claimed by Scotland’s drugs emergency.

“We need to do everything we can to stop people dying. I am proud that in the recent budget my party secured additional money for drug and alcohol services.

“As a former youth worker, I was also pleased to secure support for a new facility for mothers and their babies born addicted to drugs. I know how important it is that people don’t start out on the wrong path. But there is still much more to do.

"Alongside support for alcohol and drug partnerships, Liberal Democrats want to see the Scottish Government rolling out a nationwide network of safe consumption rooms, new drug checking facilities and giving people who are misusing drugs treatment instead of prison.”