Dundee's political leaders say they intend to continue learning lessons from the city's drug deaths after it was once again crowned the overdose capital of Scotland. A total of 52 drug-related deaths were recorded for last year, down from 57 in 2020.
However, an average of 45.2 deaths per 100,000 people have been recorded every year over the last five years, more than seven times the rate between 2000 and 2004. Civic leaders have been criticised for the pace at which they are tackling the city's drug death emergency.
Earlier this year the Dundee Drugs Commission slammed local bodies for going "far enough, deep enough or fast enough" in their response to the Commission's original recommendations published in 2020. The Scottish Government has previously hinted that it could intervene in the city's approach to tackling drug deaths if change isn't readily apparent.
SNP administration leader and Dundee Partnership chair Cllr John Alexander has welcomed the "encouraging" drop in deaths for the second year in a row. But he maintained that the city is up to the challenge presented by substance misuse.
He said: "Each individual death has an impact on family and friends left behind. There have been and remain too many of these tragedies in Dundee despite a year-on-year fall in numbers.
“City agencies are working hard to further reduce drug deaths and we are now bolstering and widening the ways in which we tackle these problems and support individuals. We look to learn lessons from every single drug death in the city."
Alcohol and drug experts are currently preparing a new five-year strategic plan for tackling drug use in Dundee having vowed earlier this year to "deliver transformative change" in drug services. Pledges include a promise to move drug services out of the much-derided Constitution House and into communities and to ensure help with drug issues is more widely available across public services.
The elements of Dundee's response to the drug emergency that have been rolled out have been praised, including a non-fatal overdose "rapid response team" that aims to provide overdose survivors with wrap-around support to reduce the risk of a repeat. Take-home naloxone - an "anti-overdose" drug that can reverse the worst effects of opioid abuse - is also widely available.
Cllr Ken Lynn, who chairs Dundee's integrated joint board, added: “Our ambition is to make Dundee a City of Recovery, where we can start to move on from decades of suffering and look forward to a new future. We have to remember that this is a long-term strategy to try and solve problems which have been with us for generations.
"No one agency can tackle these decades-old problems on their own, and there is no one simple solution that can be applied in a short timescale. I am aware that there are frustrations about the situation, but our resolve needs to remain firm.”
North East Labour MSP Michael Marra, a former Dundee councillor, said of the stats: "These death figures for Dundee are painful to read. Seven times as many people died from drugs than in 2000-04. The government must listen to experts, enforce MAT [medication-assisted treatment] standards now and reform services immediately. No more talking shops."
North East Tory MSP Maurice Golden added: "Any drop in drugs deaths is welcome. But let’s not kid ourselves, the latest figures still point to the second worst year on record for Scotland. The need for action is still very real."
Overall, Scotland's drug deaths toll fell by just nine in 2021 to 1,330. Drugs minister Angela Constance said the situation was "unacceptable", adding: "While there is so much more work to do, every life saved means one less family grieving and I am determined we can use this halt in the upward trend of recent years as a platform for real change."
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