THE number of people admitted to hospital for overdosing on heroin or methadone hit a record high last year.
Scottish Government figures show 2507 people required hospital treatment for overdosing on opioid drugs in 2016, equating to nearly 50 a week, the highest number since records began in 1999.
Last month official figures showed 867 drug deaths in Scotland last year, a 23 per cent increase on the previous year.
In the vast majority of these deaths – around 88 per cent – opiates or opioids, including heroin, methadone were implicated.
Benzodiazepines, including diazepam and etizolam were implicated in, or potentially contributed to, 426 deaths, higher than in any previous year.
Scottish Conservative health spokesman Miles Briggs, who uncovered the figures, said the Government needed to get tougher on dealers and suppliers, and find alternatives to methadone.
The figures showed that effective treatmentmeant of the 2,507 people admitted after an overdose, just 24 died in hospital as a result.
“This is the latest set of figures which show the severity of Scotland’s drug problem, which is now the worst in Europe,” Briggs said. “The sheer scale of heroin and methadone use is ruining lives left, right and centre.”
He added: “We need a new strategy urgently to help these vulnerable people beat this lethal habit for good.
“The only crumb of comfort from these statistics is how relatively few deaths occur directly from these overdoses, and we have to thank our hardworking NHS staff for that.”
The SNP’s public health minister Aileen Campbell said the relatively low death count was in part down to the national Naloxone programme, a medicine which helps block or reverse the effects of opioid, and can stop people dying if they’ve overdosed.
“Drug use among the general population continues to fall, while drug taking levels among young people remain low,” the minister said.
“Evidence supports that methadone remains a potential component of the treatment for opiate dependency and is just one part of a package of care, treatment and recovery that can be offered to individuals to help them recover from drug addiction.
“Last month I announced that we were beginning a review of our national drug strategy.
“This will provide an opportunity to reinvigorate our approach, to respond to the new challenges emerging and to be more innovative in our response to the problems each individual is facing.
“This will include a renewed emphasis on harm reduction measures in order to engage with the individuals for whom recovery may not be an immediately achievable goal."
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