Cole-Hamilton demands ministerial statement after drug deaths spiral

Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Alex Cole-Hamilton MSP has today written to the Health Secretary to demand that SNP ministers announce fresh measures in a statement to Parliament following the news that drug deaths spiralled in Scotland last year.

On Tuesday, new figures showed that there were 1,172 drug deaths in Scotland in 2023. This is an annual increase of 12% and more than double the number of deaths in 2013.

Mr Cole-Hamilton is now calling on the Scottish Government to make an urgent statement to Parliament, as soon as it returns from the summer recess, and in it to agree to take additional steps to tackle the emergency.

Mr Cole-Hamilton’s letter to the Health Secretary, Neil Gray, is as follows:

I am writing to express my deep concern about the devastating rise in drug deaths and to request that SNP ministers schedule a statement to Parliament to set out further steps that will help stop people dying.

As you know, it has been confirmed that 1,172 people died from a drug death in 2023 - a 12% increase year-on-year. Over the last decade, drug deaths in Scotland have more than doubled, meaning the toll is many times worse than anywhere else in Europe.

In these circumstances, I and many others struggle to understand why earlier this year the Scottish Government saw fit to freeze the funding for drug and alcohol policy – a real-terms cut to the budget for critical services. We know the harm that was done when Nicola Sturgeon’s administration cut the funding for drug and alcohol services by 22%.

In the current financial circumstances, I worry that lifeline drugs services could suffer further cuts that impact on their ability to provide critical support to those who need it.

I am therefore writing to ask if the Scottish Government will make a statement to MSPs to set out further steps that will help stop people dying? This should be done as soon as Parliament returns from summer recess.

It is essential that SNP ministers set out how they intend to provide frontline services with the resources they need to tackle this emergency. We need a commitment to rolling out a full nationwide network of drug testing and safer consumption facilities – centres that are proven to keep people safe, prevent fatal overdoses and present new pathways for treatment and recovery. It will also be important to strengthen the frontline the response to synthetic opioids - including nitazenes 50 times stronger than heroin – through enhanced information, detection and treatment.

Yours sincerely,

Alex Cole-Hamilton

MSP for Edinburgh West