Calls for radical action to curb record drug deaths in Scotland

As the Scottish government prepares to launch its new alcohol and drugs strategy in November, the first in a decade, frontline service workers told the Guardian that politicians have not grasped the scale of the problem.

Scotland has the largest number of overdose deaths per capita in western Europe, and more than double the number of England and Wales.

Although delegates at the SNP conference on Monday resoundingly supported the provision of a drug treatment room in Glasgow – where addicts can inject safely under supervision – campaigners say the issue has become a political wrangle about Westminster intransigence, as the legislation needed to enable such rooms is reserved. In reality, a consumption room is unlikely to affect large numbers of users: even in the centre of Glasgow, Scotland’s largest city, a room would serve a population of 500 or so.

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