This report focusses on Police Scotland management information as a key indicator of recent drug death trends in Scotland. In January 2021 the Scottish Government announced a National Mission to reduce Scotland's unacceptable drug death rates. Part of this commitment is to improve data and surveillance. This report focusses on management information from Police Scotland on suspected drug deaths to provide as timely an indication of current trends in drug deaths in Scotland as is possible. Statistics from National Records of Scotland are also presented for wider context.

The latest quarterly report on the number of suspected drug deaths during 2021 shows a fall of 8% (116) on the previous year. The report on suspected drug death Management Information from Police Scotland shows there were 1,295 deaths between January and December 2021. The equivalent number of suspected drug deaths for 2020 was 1,411, though official statistics from National Records of Scotland showed the confirmed number of drug-related deaths in 2020 was 1,339.

The figures show that in 2021:

• males accounted for 73% of suspected drug deaths – a 3 percentage point decrease on the previous year
• more than two thirds (67%) of suspected drug deaths were of people aged between 35 and 54
• the number of suspected drug deaths in the under 25 age group was 68 – 20 fewer than in 2020
• there were 288 suspected drug deaths in the last quarter (October – December 2021), three more than in the previous calendar quarter (July-September 2021) and 76 fewer than during the same period last year

[Also, see Scottish Government website for related tables]