Health Secretary Humza Yousaf says he expects the latest drug deaths figures in Scotland to be 'challenging'.
The Scottish Government is set to announce tomorrow, Friday, the latest statistics on the number of people who have died as a result of a drugs overdose in 2020.
New figures are expected to reveal that Scotland will remain the drug deaths capital for the entire European continent.
Ahead of the publication the SNP minister said the situation across the country won't be solved overnight, but they are taking steps to halt the number of people dying.
Last year Scotland topped the table in Europe for drug deaths in 2019 - a total of 1,264 Scots lost their lives.
Following the publication in December, public health minister Joe FitzPatrick lost his job in Nicola Sturgeon's government.
He was replaced by Angela Constance who was appointed the Minister for Drug Policy, she reports directly to the First Minister.
Ahead of the publication tomorrow, Yousaf told Radio Clyde: "I won't pre-empt the statistics that I suspect will be a very challenging set of statistics.
"The drugs death issue, the crisis, the national emergency that we're dealing with is not going to be resolved overnight and is not going to be resolved as quickly as one year.
"What we will do, and what Angela Constance as the lead minister is doing is working with stakeholders on the ground.
"She's working with people with lived experiences.
"She's also working with the UK Government because this is going to have to take coordination and discussion and engagement with UK Government too.
"Drugs policy is still, an element of it, reserved.
"I suspect another challenging set of statistics."
Total deaths rose from 1,187 in 2018 to 1,264 in 2019. Our annual death rate is now 3.5 times that of the UK as a whole.
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