By Matthew Roscoe • 15 December 2020 • 18:54
Scotland’s death rate due to drug misuse has increased by 6 per cent on 2018 statistics after new figures showed that more than 1,200 people died last year.
The late figures have been attributed to a huge backlog in processing toxicology results and delays due to Covid-19 as the National Records of Scotland statistics are six months behind schedule.
The worrying stats finally published on Tuesday, December 15, which are the worst recorded in Europe, show a record number of deaths for the sixth year in a row with 1,264 representing more than double the number of deaths in 2014.
Scotland’s figures are three times and a half times the rate for England and Wales, revealing that two-thirds of those who died were aged 35 to 54 as the median average age of drug-related deaths rises from 28 to 42 over the past two decades.
Alarmingly, there was also an increase in deaths among 15 to 24-year-olds – from 64 in 2018 to 76 in 2019.
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Originally from the UK, Matthew is based on the Costa Blanca and is a web reporter for The Euro Weekly News covering international and Spanish national news. Got a news story you want to share? Then get in touch at editorial@euroweeklynews.com.
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