Drug-related Deaths in Scotland in 2003

26th August 2004

The Registrar General for Scotland has today published a short paper giving summary information about drug-related deaths in Scotland in 2003. Key points to emerge include:

There were 317 drug-related deaths in 2003, which is 65 (17 per cent) fewer than in 2002.
Within these totals, the number of deaths of people known or suspected to be drug-dependent decreased from 280 in 2002 to 216 in 2003.
Of the 317 deaths in 2003, heroin/morphine was involved in 175 (55 per cent), diazepam in 153 (48 per cent), and methadone in 87 (27 per cent).
The highest number of deaths - 107 - was in the Greater Glasgow Health Board area, with 40 in Lothian, and 37 in Grampian.
The number of drug-related deaths in Greater Glasgow and Grampian fell substantially between 2002 and 2003, while that in Lothian increased by 1. Amongst the other areas, there were sizeable decreases in Ayrshire & Arran, Forth Valley and Lanarkshire.

Notes for News Editors

1. The information presented about drug-related deaths in Scotland uses the revised definition for baseline figures introduced in 2001. 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'. The revised definition is also being used elsewhere in the United Kingdom.

2. The deaths covered by this paper are being followed up as part of a major research project (the National Investigation into Drug-Related Deaths in Scotland, 2003) that was commissioned by the Scottish Executive in 2003.

3. This short paper is being made available primarily through the GROS website though hard copies may be obtained from Statistics Customer Services using our Contact Form.