Drug-Related Deaths in Scotland in 2001

7th August 2002

The Registrar General for Scotland has today published an Occasional Paper giving summary information about drug-related deaths in Scotland in 2001. Key points to emerge include:

The number of drug-related deaths in 2001 was 332, 40 (14 per cent) more than in 2000 and 88
(36 per cent) more than in 1996.
Within these totals, the number of deaths of persons known or suspected to be drug-dependent increased slightly from 220 in 2000 to 227 in 2001.
Of the 332 deaths in 2001, heroin/morphine was involved in 216 (65 per cent), diazepam in 156
(47 per cent), and methadone in 69 (21 per cent).
The highest number of deaths - 96 - was in the Greater Glasgow Health Board area, with 54 in Lothian, and 46 in Grampian.
Whilst the number of drug-related deaths in Greater Glasgow fell slightly between 2000 and 2001 there were large increases in Lothian, Grampian and Ayrshire & Arran.

Notes For News Editors

1. The information presented about drug-related deaths in Scotland uses the new definition for baseline figures introduced in last year's paper. This definition was agreed by a working party set up following the publication in 2000, by the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD), of a report on 'Reducing drug related deaths'. A detailed comparison of the old and new definitions was contained in last year's paper. The new definition is also being used elsewhere in the United Kingdom.

2. Occasional Papers issued by the Registrar General for Scotland are made available primarily through the GROS website (www.gro-scotland.gov.uk) though paper copies may be obtained from Statistics Customer Services using our Contact Form.

3. Media copies are available from the Scottish Executive.