Call for more action on country's drug deaths

ROSS THOMSON

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A Lanarkshire MSP has called on the Scottish Government to do more following an alarming rise in the number of drug deaths across the country.

New figures showed there were 251 suspected drugs deaths between December 2 2024 and February 23 this year - an average of 21 per week.

The figures cover the period when the UK’s first safer drugs consumption room opened in Glasgow in January of this year.

However, the data, published by Public Health Scotland, showed that the number of suspected drug deaths over the December to February period was 17 per cent higher than the previous three months, when there were 215 fatalities.

Labour Central Scotland list MSP Monica Lennon said: "These figures show there is no room for complacency when it comes to Scotland’s drugs death crisis.