Cole-Hamilton: 85 drug deaths each month is a national tragedy

Responding to new figures showing that there were 1,017 drug deaths in Scotland in 2024, which brings the total number of deaths in the last decade to 10,884, Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Alex Cole-Hamilton MSP said:

“It is a national tragedy that 85 people every month are dying in Scotland’s drug deaths emergency.

“After the SNP slashed funding for drug services in 2015, even Nicola Sturgeon admitted her government had “taken its eye off the ball”.

“My party is fighting hard to unpick that damage, which is why we made access to drug and alcohol services a major part of our budget negotiations earlier this year, securing support for a new facility for mothers and their babies born addicted to drugs.

“From rolling out a nationwide network of safer consumption rooms to new drug checking facilities, Scottish Liberal Democrats would give our country the world-class drug services it deserves and stop people dying.”