More than 1300 people died drug-related deaths in 2020 – 1339, to be exact, an increase of 75 on the previous year and the seventh consecutive year the figure has risen.
The overwhelming majority of deaths were deemed to be accidental, with only four per cent succumbing due to deliberate self-poisoning.
What this tells us is that these people did not want to die, but they were suffering from a condition of body and mind which compelled them to risk their lives on a daily basis.
The number of deaths involving methadone are at their highest ever.
Benzos like diazepam and etizolam are again implicated.
Two-thirds of deaths in 2020 were of people aged between 34 and 54 and cocaine plays an increasing role in this developing picture, with more than 400 deaths now linked to the substance.
The drug crisis is evolving. And so too must our response.
But it is the following statistic and little else which should dictate the direction of travel for the Scottish Government – people from deprived communities are 18 times more likely to perish in drug-related deaths.
That is an astounding indictment of every level of governance in this country.
Drug deaths are not a product of ageing cohorts, or even poly-drug use – they are the final output of structural social inequality.
People don’t wake up one day and decide to become drug addicts. They are born into poverty.
Their development as children is stunted by stress and trauma. They present at school with behaviour which is deemed challenging – where their social exclusion begins.
They seek a sense of safety and security in peer groups of youths which are targeted disproportionately by police.
Their mere interaction with police increases their chances of ending up in court – and triaged in a young offenders’ institution.
They will struggle to hold down jobs, to gain access to safe, secure housing and they will fall off the radar of local health services.
This crisis is about so much more than drugs.
Drug deaths are the final output of health inequality.
Rough sleeping is the final output of housing inequality. The attainment gap is the final output of educational inequality.
These are the mechanisms by which class inequality is preserved and it is often these forces, acting together upon a vulnerable person throughout the course of their life, which culminates in their drug-related death.
When government legislation is primarily about preserving or advancing the interests of the top 20 per cent, and policies that would truly tackle inequality at the root conflict with those interests, then drug deaths, educational attainment gaps and housing crises are inevitable.
Why are the children of middle-class parents being offered help to buy homes when people with substance misuse problems are begging for rehab funding?
Why are four-car families getting free prescriptions while the unemployed are being sanctioned for arriving late to job centres?
And why are so many affluent people walking around, thinking they are really successful and resilient – unaware their prosperity is, in part, underwritten by a system tipped in their favour?
You could open a safe consumption room on every street in Scotland and you wouldn’t make much of a dent in the drug deaths – as long as addicts are being sent back to economically hollowed out communities, bereft of hope and opportunity, they will return to the nightmare of addiction.
Addicts deserve health care equality
The most recent development in the drug crisis is the campaign to enshrine in law a person’s right to treatment for their addiction.
Some might wonder why such a right must be legislated for, given every citizen already has access to the NHS for free, at point of need. The difference between a drug addict and someone with cancer is that a cancer patient will be treated, irrespective of whether they arrive late for an appointment.
They will be treated regardless of their tone, their attitude, or their enthusiasm to be treated.
But drug addicts are often subjected to very different standards of care than people with other health problems _ because addiction is still not regarded completely as an illness.
Addicts can literally beg for rehab beds and be told by drug sector staff that “they are not ready”.
They can be kicked out of pharmacies for behaviour deemed unsatisfactory. What a right to treatment puts in place are clear lines of accountability.
Ergo, if someone wants treatment then they should not only have a right to it, but a say over which treatment they sign up to – like every other citizen with a health problem.
Action is years too late
With the Scottish Government looking ever more likely to greenlight safe drug consumption rooms in defiance of Westminster, many see it as a case of too little too late.
That if they can pull off this manoeuvre now, they could have years ago.
While that may be true, it is also important to understand how governments work – they change things when they are forced to.
It is because of the tireless work or highly organised campaigners, who have media and opposition parties dancing to their tune, that
the government’s hand has been forced.
And my advice would be, if anyone cares for it, to keep that pressure on. Safe consumption rooms, the possibility of decriminalisation and increased funding for services are all welcome, but the drug sector as a whole requires re-plumbing from top to bottom.
Don't miss the latest news from around Scotland and beyond - Sign up to our daily newsletter here.
