Official Report 186KB pdf
The next item of business is a statement by Maree Todd on addressing drug harms. Questions will be taken at the end of the statement, so there should be no interruptions or interventions.
15:04
Today’s publication by National Records of Scotland shows that 1,133 people in Scotland tragically lost their lives to drugs in 2025. I begin by expressing my deepest condolences to the families, friends and loved ones of each of those people. Behind every death is a person whose life has been cut far too short because of avoidable circumstances, a family living with grief and a community affected by loss. The loss of 1,133 people is simply devastating. To everyone who has experienced that loss, I want to be clear that they remain at the heart of our efforts to reduce harm, save lives and improve support.
The figures show an increase in the number of drug deaths compared with the number in the previous year. That increase is deeply concerning to me, and the numbers are completely unacceptable.
Today’s publication comes at a time when services across Scotland are reporting an increasingly toxic and unpredictable drug supply. There are growing risks from highly potent synthetic substances, changing patterns of drug use and high levels of people using multiple drugs at the same time. Those changes create significant dangers for people who use drugs and can rapidly increase the risk of overdose and death. In the chamber, I have spoken about the potency of nitazenes, for example, which are synthetic opioids that can be hundreds of times stronger than heroin.
At the same time, many of those at risk continue to experience the interconnected harms of poverty, poor physical and mental health, trauma, homelessness and social exclusion. Today’s statistics highlight that people in the most deprived areas are 15 times more likely to die from drugs than those in the least deprived areas.
Those realities reinforce the need for a co-ordinated public health response that addresses the immediate risks that people face and the wider circumstances that can make recovery harder to achieve. In recognition of that incredibly challenging context, our programme for government reasserts our commitment to reduce the number of drug-related deaths. Our vision is of a Scotland where people receive the support that they need in their communities under a system that not only treats illness but helps to prevent it through earlier intervention.
Earlier this year, the Scottish Government and the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities jointly published “Preventing Harm, Promoting Recovery: Scotland’s Alcohol & Drugs Strategic Plan 2026-2035”, which sets out our long-term vision to prevent harm, promote recovery and save lives. It builds on the progress that has been made through the national mission and recognises that the scale and complexity of current harms require sustained action over the coming years.
The plan is grounded in a human rights approach and recognises that alcohol and drug harms cannot be addressed by any single organisation acting alone. Partnership working between the national Government, local government, health services, third sector communities and, crucially, those with lived and living experience will be essential to delivering change.
That means building on the steps that have been taken so far. On residential rehabilitation, we have exceeded our commitment to support 1,000 publicly funded placements annually, as more than 1,100 people accessed placements last year. Publicly funded access has more than doubled since 2019-20 and, in August, we announced new support for residential rehabilitation, including dedicated detoxification services in Inverness. Residential rehabilitation bed capacity increased to 574 beds in 2025, and we expect to see further increases when a progress report is published later this year.
We are continuing the implementation of the medication assisted treatment standards. The latest benchmarking report shows that clear progress has been made over the course of the programme, particularly on access, treatment choice, outreach and retention. Across Scotland’s alcohol and drug partnership areas, 77 per cent were assessed by Public Health Scotland as having fully implemented standards 1, 2, 3 and 5, 57 per cent were assessed as having fully implemented standard 4, and 47 per cent were assessed as having fully implemented standards 6 to 10.
It is equally important that people receive the same high-quality care in the justice system. Yesterday’s publication of a report on MAT implementation in prison settings provides a baseline for future improvement. It also highlights good practice, such as HMP Kilmarnock’s work to improve same-day access, which has reduced treatment waiting times through joint working. As patterns of substance use change, we will expand the standards beyond opioids to cover all substances, including alcohol.
We have also continued to widen access to life-saving naloxone, and we remain committed to ensuring that it is available to anyone who may need it. The latest estimates suggest that almost 89 per cent of people at risk of an opioid overdose have now been supplied with a take-home naloxone kit.
We continue to support our emergency services to provide rapid naloxone access during overdoses, with Police Scotland officers having administered it more than 1,300 times since its introduction, five years ago. Since opening, in January 2025, the Thistle, which is Glasgow’s safer drug consumption facility, has been accessed well over 22,000 times, with staff having responded to almost 200 medical emergencies.
Vitally, these policy interventions and the actions of our valued front-line workers are saving lives. Today’s statistics are a reminder of the need for all of us to empower and support the exceptional people in services who are delivering the vital changes that we need to see on the ground, such as those at the charity Cahootz, which I visited this morning and which supports people in recovery through creative activities. It is one of more than 300 local and grass-roots projects that we have supported. Through a new alcohol and drugs fund, independently administered by the Corra Foundation, we will expand this support for community organisations and provide more than £36 million over the next three years.
I also recognise the vital role that recovery communities play by providing trusted, peer-led support to complement clinical services. We will continue our support for the Scottish Recovery Consortium, to strengthen recovery communities and the distinct contribution that it provides.
I know that the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Care visited HMP Addiewell last Friday to take part in its recovery walk, and this week marks West Lothian’s recovery week.
This Government has already delivered a broad range of measures to tackle the societal harm that drug deaths cause, but today’s figures are an acute reminder of the need for further action. In recent months, we have worked closely with Public Health Scotland and partners to accelerate our response. That includes a strengthened focus on assertive outreach, temporary and supported accommodation, and public protection measures for people at greatest risk.
In June, I attended the drug deaths summit, along with the First Minister and the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Care. The summit was convened in direct response to data on preventable drug deaths and harms. We heard powerful testimony from families who have lost loved ones, and we will continue to work with and support initiatives such as families campaign for change, to ensure meaningful family involvement in shaping services and in driving change. The final report from the summit was published yesterday, and we will be working with partners to drive forward action in the key areas identified, including improving accountability, better information sharing and addressing workforce issues.
However, we must also improve the early identification of emerging risks. I am therefore pleased to confirm that Scotland’s first local drug-checking service will open in Glasgow at the beginning of October. The service will help people to make safer decisions while providing vital intelligence on the drugs in circulation to our national early warning system. Services in Aberdeen and Dundee will follow in the coming months, with Edinburgh also working towards a site. Those sites, together with the national testing and research laboratory at the University of Dundee, will form a pilot backed by more than £1.7 million of Scottish Government funding.
One of the clearest messages that we have heard from people with lived and living experience is that we must continue to listen, learn and adapt. That is why we are bringing together national and local government, key partners, expert advice and individuals and families with lived and living experience through our new advisory forum and executive group. I will co-chair the advisory forum alongside COSLA’s health and social care spokesperson, Councillor Paul Kelly. The forum will draw on front-line insight to ensure that national decision making remains grounded in the realities that individual local communities and services face.
Today’s figures are a stark reminder of the devastating effect that drugs have on our communities. They remind us that, despite progress, investment and the dedication of those working to save lives, Scotland continues to face an intolerable level of harm from drugs. The figures must strengthen our resolve, not weaken it. They must push all of us who are working to tackle drug harms in every area—be it health, local government, education, the third sector, justice, housing or national Government—to be compassionate and take an approach that is grounded in human rights.
I close by again offering my condolences to every person who has lost a loved one to the harms of drugs. We must be better. We must strengthen our efforts to prevent harm, promote recovery and, ultimately, save lives. I commit to Parliament to doing that and to ensuring that we use every possible lever available to the Scottish Government to continue this vital work.
I will allow around 20 minutes for the minister to answer questions on the issues raised. Members who wish to ask a question should press their request-to-speak button now.
I thank the minister for the advance copy of her statement.
The number of drug deaths is a national scandal, with an 11 per cent increase in one year alone. Each of those deaths is a human tragedy, and my thoughts are of course with the families who have lost loved ones. However, seven years on from when the Scottish National Party Government declared a public health emergency, the numbers are increasing, and remain the worst in the United Kingdom and in Europe.
I have repeatedly warned the Government about the danger of synthetic opioids, in every year since 2023. Drug checking facilities are the Government’s answer to the problem, but we have been talking about those for more than five years. The Glasgow drug checking facility was delayed because of the snail’s pace at which the Government operates. It was approved by the Home Office in October 2025, so why the delay in bringing it into being?
We know that synthetic opioids evolve quickly, so does the minister think that drug checking facilities will be effective? She rightly says that the numbers are unacceptable, but what is she doing to prevent people from losing their lives due to the increased risk of synthetic opioids in Scotland?
The reason for the delay in bringing forth the drug checking facilities is complex.
No, it is not.
Yes, it is. We were delayed. As the member is well aware, it took some time—a number of years—to get the licence through the Home Office process. It is not a simple overnight process to set up a drug checking facility. We had to procure equipment and calibrate it. We had to create a national drug testing laboratory in Dundee. [Interruption.]
This is a serious subject, and I would appreciate it if, when members ask questions, they listened to the answers that are given. As Mr Marra well knows, we had to build the system in Dundee to create a national drug testing reference laboratory, where samples can be sent for a full and comprehensive check. The facilities in Dundee and Aberdeen both have licences and are in the setting-up phase, so they will follow quickly. The Edinburgh drug checking facility was later to join the pilot and will take some time to bring into use.
Jackie Baillie is absolutely correct about the threat that nitazenes pose. I hypothesise that much of the challenge that we face and many of the reasons why drugs deaths are going in the wrong direction are because of the ever-changing nature and lethal toxicity of the market out there. Those drugs are really dangerous, and they have only recently burst on to our scene—the toxicology test for etonitazene at post-mortem, which is one of the most common and potent of those drugs, was introduced in May 2026. The data that we are examining today is therefore undoubtedly an underestimate of the impact of nitazenes.
The challenge that we face is that those synthetic drugs appear about once a week, with 50-odd appearing in a year. I put to Jackie Baillie that—
Minister, you will need to give shorter answers.
Okay. It would be much easier to make progress if people were not interrupting and heckling me; this is a really serious subject.
The Misuse of Drugs Act 1971 is outdated and I would appreciate Jackie Baillie’s support in taking up conversations with the UK Government on that issue.
Another 15 members have indicated that they would like to ask a question of the minister, so we will need shorter answers. I am sure that the minister will be able to make her points in her responses.
Here we are again: another year with more deaths, all at the hands of this SNP Government, which continues to take its eye off the ball. A brief 10-minute statement will not cut it for the families who have been devastated across our country. I have watched from afar as countless SNP ministers failed more families than I care to imagine with inaction and rhetoric. Now I sit in this Parliament as this Government oversees an 11 per cent increase in drug deaths. Where was the minister for drugs this summer? She was living it up at the world cup in America.
Minister, as a son of addiction and on behalf of families across this country, I say: please keep your deepest condolences to yourself, because we’re no interested—what we want is action. We are sick fed up of hearing from politicians, commentators and academics who analyse rather than act. Where are the monthly updates? Where is the dedicated Government department? Where is the closure of Glasgow’s failing shooting gallery? Where is the real funding for rehab rather than the spin in this statement? Where is the support for the right to recovery for all our fellow Scots who suffer? Where is the genuine sorrow at the pain that this Government has inflicted on thousands of families?
I have a very blunt question for the minister: how many more working-class Scots need to die before she finally wakes up, takes action and declares this a national emergency?
As the daughter of addiction, my condolences go out to each and every member of our community who has suffered loss. It would be remiss of me not to focus on the people who have lost loved ones.
This is a complex problem that requires a multiplicity of responses—there is no simple answer. It is not as simple as building residential rehabilitation, although we have done that; we have literally built buildings and provided beds. We have increased publicly funded access to residential rehabilitation. There has been a more than 60 per cent increase in the number accessing it since 2019—more than double the number of people are able to access it.
Because of the level of deaths on our streets, we have needed to take many harm-reduction approaches to public health, including the work of Thistle, which is undoubtedly saving lives. About 15,000 injection episodes have happened there since it opened and nearly 200 overdoses have been treated. Not a single individual in that facility has died from the drugs that they have taken, so there is no doubt that it is life-saving.
On a day like today, when we see that the number of deaths is increasing, it is difficult and painful to say that we are absolutely committed to making a difference on all those fronts—but we are committed, and I commit to the Parliament that I will make progress.
The number of drug deaths in my home city of Dundee remains unacceptably and distressingly high. My condolences, too, go out to every family, friend and loved one of people who have lost their lives. The situation is unacceptable, and the changing pattern of drug use is alarming.
Last week, I visited Jericho House, a rehabilitation service with a high success rate. The staff there were very clear that everyone should be entitled to person-centred, trauma-informed care. What steps can be taken to ensure that we have a continuous line of treatment so that people move from detox into rehabilitation? Without rehabilitation following detox, there is a greater chance of people not recovering.
I thank the member for that question, because I welcome the opportunity to recognise the important work that is carried out by services such as Jericho House. Residential rehabilitation can play a vital role in supporting recovery, and everyone should have access to person-centred, holistic and trauma-informed care that is tailored to their individual needs.
Through our national mission, we invested in expanding residential rehabilitation capacity across Scotland, and we exceeded our commitment to support more than 1,000 people into publicly funded residential rehabilitation each year. We will maintain and build on that ambition through the alcohol and drugs strategic plan.
We recognise that residential rehabilitation is just one part of a person’s recovery journey and that people need to have access to the right support at the right time. That is why we are working to increase residential detox services and to strengthen pathways from detox into residential rehabilitation, which will help to reduce delays and ensure that people can access the treatment that is right for them.
Acknowledging that people need a multiservice approach, how will organisations and those who support people who are affected by drugs and alcohol be consulted on public sector reform? What engagement is taking place with the UK Government in relation to drug tracing and other reserved policy?
Our new alcohol and drugs plan and the Public Health Scotland report on the drug deaths summit that was attended by the First Minister and other ministers in June were discussed at yesterday’s meeting of the reform oversight board, which is chaired jointly by the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Care and Councillor Paul Kelly, who is the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities spokesperson on health and social care. The board accepted all the report’s recommendations, including the recommendation about the importance of involving individuals with lived and living experience at all levels of reform, including the big public service reform process that is going on at the moment. Individuals with lived and living experience will continue to be engaged through participation and co-design arrangements, and they will be represented on the new joint advisory group, which will ensure that their views will help to shape the development and implementation of reform activity.
As far as engagement with the UK Government is concerned, I have regular four-nation meetings with ministerial colleagues from all over the UK, but I would certainly appreciate any help and support that I can garner from members across the chamber with a view to having a grown-up conversation about reform of drugs law, which is undoubtedly outdated and unfit for addressing the enormous threat and harm that we are facing in Scotland today.
Over the past 20 years, 16,082 of our fellow Scots have lost their lives to drug addictions, which is the equivalent of the population of St Andrews. It is clear that the SNP Government’s policies have been a failure. Male drug deaths alone have gone up by 19 per cent. If the Scottish Government were a health board, it would be put into special measures.
We cannot continue to approach the issue through a harm prevention strategy alone. There needs to be a national shift to rehabilitation and a right to recovery. The Scottish Conservatives have consistently suggested options and a new approach. Does the minister accept that, after 20 years of SNP Government, there has been a failure to deliver on the rehabilitation and recovery support that are so desperately needed? Will the Government finally admit failure and change course?
It is incorrect to characterise the situation as one in which we are not focusing on rehabilitation and recovery. We have absolutely focused on recovery and harm reduction. It would be remiss of us not to focus on harm reduction when the situation that we are facing, as has been discussed, is one in which, in 2025, more than 1,100 people in Scotland lost their lives to drugs. We must take measures to stop the deaths.
We continue to focus on increased access to residential rehab and to wider treatment services through service investment and service improvement, and a rights-based approach. We believe that that is the most effective way to improve outcomes for people who are affected by substance use. I have already mentioned the increased toxicity in the ever-changing market. When we consider what has happened over the past few years, it is very clear that the unregulated toxic drug supply—with people in Scotland who buy drugs not getting what they think they are buying—is one of the main reasons why we are facing the devastating harm that we are discussing here today.
We are now five years into the national mission to tackle this issue, and the crisis has taken a tragic turn for the worse—each death preventable and each death heartbreaking. Liberal Democrats warned three years ago of the dangers posed by nitazenes entering Scotland’s drug supply. We have therefore been calling for drug-checking facilities, so that people know what they are taking.
As the chief executive of the Scottish Drugs Forum said this morning, we cannot respond to a public health emergency without an emergency response. Does the minister agree that that must include the roll-out of safer drug consumption facilities across Scotland, not just in Glasgow, so that people at greatest risk have life-saving support and better access to other services, including rehabilitation? We need to stop people dying.
I absolutely agree with the member that we need more and broader services, and we need those services to be available all over Scotland.
I point again to the constraints of the UK-wide legislation. The Misuse of Drugs Act 1971 is older than me, and it is not fit for current purposes. Despite the supportive position from the Lord Advocate, the setting up of safer drug consumption facilities in Scotland remains restricted by the 1971 act. It is not a simple process to open those facilities all over Scotland. That has to be worked at carefully with the community, the police, the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service and the Lord Advocate. The process has begun here in the centre of Edinburgh, which is facing an increase in drugs deaths this year, and the Scottish Government is supporting that process.
The member will be aware of the limits of the drug-checking facilities—and I have discussed that with other members of his party. Home Office licensing restricts that facility to people who are dependent on one or more illicit drugs. I would advocate that that service needs to be available to everyone who is taking illicit drugs. We have an exceptionally contaminated market here in Scotland, and that is leading to fatalities in our nation.
The minister has just touched on the fact that the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971 is holding us back from the radical action that we need to take to help some of the most vulnerable people in our society. What steps is the Scottish Government taking to ensure that this Parliament has the full suite of powers that we need to save more lives?
I believe, and many experts believe, that problem substance use must be treated as a public health issue. I have been absolutely clear about the limitations that the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971 places on Scotland’s response. The 1971 act restricts our ability to implement evidence-based harm reduction measures and services to protect some of the most vulnerable people in our communities. That includes interventions that reduce the risks associated with problematic substance use and help to save lives.
We will continue to work constructively with UK Government counterparts, but the current legislative framework does not provide the flexibility that is needed to respond to Scotland’s specific challenges. Scotland does have specific challenges, and there is no shying away from it. Here in the Parliament, we are all well aware that the level of death that we face here in Scotland is two and a half times that next door.
As discussions on further devolution continue, there is a very strong case for Scotland having greater control over drug policy, allowing this Parliament to pursue innovative, public health-focused approaches that reduce harm, improve outcomes and save lives.
During my recent visits to Providence and Cincinnati, I saw how those American cities empower individuals directly by distributing rapid fentanyl and nitazene test strips at scale, alongside naloxone. With the hyper-toxic supply of synthetic opioids driving our death toll, people need the means to test drugs before they consume them. Although I welcome that Glasgow’s drug checking service will open next month, albeit too late to solve some of the problems in the city, it cannot match the scale of personal test strips. Will the minister commit to making them fully and widely available across Scotland?
I am aware of some of the potential benefits, as well as the limitations, of rapid test strips as harm reduction tools. I am also aware that the member has recently visited America, due to the many questions he has put to me on the issue.
Test strips are used for risk reduction, but there are limitations. Depending on the concentration and type of nitazene in the drugs, they occasionally have an unacceptable level of inaccuracy and produce false negative results, which means that a negative test cannot assure someone that the substance is safe to take.
I do not think that that means that test strips should be precluded from being used within our system, and we are absolutely aware that they are available from some services in Scotland. As with everything relating to the issue, there is no magic answer. We have to do a whole suite of things; we have to do them well; we have to keep doing them; and we have to do them everywhere in Scotland.
I remind the minister that we need shorter answers.
I am concerned about the proliferation of online drug ordering services. Through popular social media applications and often without having to leave those sites, folk can order all manner of substances, with no oversight or safety and authenticity checks. Very little trail is left for the authorities to follow if something goes wrong. Is the minister aware of the scale of that practice? Can she explain what is being done to avoid the potentially catastrophic results?
I recognise the situation that Emma Roddick has described. She will be aware that the online world is reserved to Westminster, but there is ongoing work with the UK Government to ensure that drugs are not being supplied through social media apps. We recognise that there is a challenge here and in the rest of the UK. I would be more than happy to hear further details about the concerns that the member has about her constituency and will work together with her to resolve them.
The minister is trying to distract with her talk of nitazene, synthetic opioids and how to take drugs more safely and in more places. Einstein said that, when something has not worked, it is insanity to do more of it. We have had methadone and the Thistle, and we have given out naloxone—God help us, the police have had to use it 1,000-odd times. Those methods have not worked. Doubling rehab funding would take it from only a pittance to insignificant.
When will the minister face up to the fact that the disaster is unfolding on her watch? Will she bring back the Right to Addiction Recovery (Scotland) Bill, which the SNP disgracefully voted down in the last parliamentary session?
It is really important that we follow the evidence, which suggests that harm reduction is the way to reduce deaths—[Interruption.] I thank members for the quiet.
I remind everyone in the chamber that we are discussing the deaths of 1,133 people in Scotland. We have to take a suite of actions. I have spoken to the member before about the stigmatising language that she has used. It is important that we do not stigmatise evidence-based treatments that have been shown to reduce deaths. As I said to her last week at the Health, Care and Sport Committee, opioid substitution therapies are known to reduce the risk of death by 70 per cent. Let us not stigmatise those treatments. Let us have a grown-up conversation about the very challenging situation that we are facing in Scotland.
The Thistle safe consumption room in Glasgow is a clear example of the role that innovation and forward thinking have to play in tackling drug harms. Can the minister say more about the work that the centre does, not only in reducing drug harm but in signposting users to other services, and the potential for other innovative initiatives such as mobile drug units?
The Thistle is reducing harm by providing a safe clinical environment, sterile injecting equipment and advice on safer injecting, while enabling staff to respond immediately to overdoses. By the end of 2026, as I have said, the service had recorded 22,533 visits from 809 registered individuals and responded to 195 medical emergencies. That has helped to prevent serious harm and save lives.
As the member says, the service also provides an important gateway into wider support services. In its first year, it made 612 referrals to housing, alcohol, drug recovery and blood-borne virus services, helping people to access treatment, healthcare and recovery support.
We in the Scottish Government remain open to innovative, evidence-based approaches to reducing drug-related harm. However, as I have said before, the constraints of the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971—
The minister needs to give shorter answers.
—limit what can be delivered. The act limits the possibilities and we cannot have mobile drug units because of it.
Given increasing instances of nitazenes being cut in with other drugs, what steps is the Scottish Government taking to ensure that drug users and their carers are encouraged to use naloxone in emergencies, even when they are not aware of taking opiates?
The member raises a really good point. As I have said before, the drugs market in Scotland is entirely unregulated. As members would expect, all these drugs are illegal. The market is highly contaminated and people are not getting what they think they are getting when they buy drugs. It is really dangerous.
I would encourage anyone who uses drugs to carry naloxone, and those people, like me, who live in an area where drugs are used to do the same. I carry naloxone and I am trained to administer it, because I have seen people collapse literally on my doorstep and I want to be sure that I can take the necessary steps to save someone’s life should that be necessary. I encourage people to go and get training.
So far, the approach has been really successful. We have seen that nine out of 10 people who are at risk of an overdose have access to home naloxone. I encourage them to carry it, to use it and to keep using it until the ambulance gets there.
I remind members of my entry in the register of members’ interests. I am chair of Moving On Inverclyde, which is a recovery service.
The minister mentioned the use of medication-assisted treatment standards in her statement. Can she say a bit more about the roll-out of MAT standards and how they are making treatment and support available to those who are struggling with problematic drug use?
The PHS benchmarking report on MAT standards implementation, which was published in July, illustrates clear progress in making quality treatment and support available to everyone. Progress continues in embedding the standards, particularly with regard to access, treatment choice, outreach and retention and, importantly, the key element of strengthening multi-agency collaboration.
Yesterday, PHS published a supplementary baseline report on the implementation of MAT standards in Scottish prison settings, which I referenced in my statement. We will build on those findings with a focus on strengthening pathways between prison, police custody and community services.
Our approach will also widen to reflect current and emerging harms, as set out in the alcohol and drugs strategic plan. By expanding the principles and approach of what has been achieved through MAT standards, establishing standards for all substances will offer the same level of focus on access, choice and support to everyone, no matter what substance they are using.
That concludes questions on the ministerial statement on addressing drug harms. I am very aware that I was unable to call a number of members who wished to ask a question, but it is time to move on to the next item of business.
The rest of this Official Report will be published progressively as soon as the text is available.
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