Scotland’s drug-death figures for last year are likely to show a significant rise.
But we won’t be able to tell you just how bad the situation is because Police Scotland has refused to tell us.
They have published the data in the past, but they now say that was a mistake.
That is very disappointing because armed with the facts, the Daily Record has led the way in framing the drugs crisis as a public health matter.
A full awareness of the extent of the problem helped bring people together to argue for significant change, which so far the Tories to their shame have resisted.
Police Scotland say they have a “duty of care” to families to “avoid speculation”.
But that’s a claim which fails to stand up to any sort of scrutiny.
They have only been asked to supply numbers not give a roll call of the dead.
Withholding information on such flimsy grounds smacks of an attempt to suppress bad news.
It also fuels speculation there could have been political pressure placed on the force.
Scotland has the highest drug-death rate in the developed world.
Preventing the public from seeing the full extent of the problem is unacceptable.
Police Scotland should release the drug-death figures and let those who care continue a fight we cannot afford to lose.
