Scotland has highest drug death rate in EU

[Viridian1]

Must be due to ugly weather.

[ixulescu]

That’s good to hear. I didn’t think Romania had high drug use but I also didn’t think it was at the very bottom of the list. Nice to see the Romania has less drug use and violence than the US

Romania has little drug use because the population prefers alcohol (Romanians are heavy (beer) drinkers, 3rd place in alcohol consumption in the EU). And the situation is hardly rosy. Romania has 200 alcohol related deaths per million people (luckily the rate is decreasing), much like Scotland gets from drug use. Now of course, Scotland has it's own share of alcohol related deaths, at an even higher rate.

If you want to see alcohol related death rates in the world check this link:
https://ourworldindata.org/alcohol-c...-use-disorders

[Graham]

Romania has little drug use because the population prefers alcohol (Romanians are heavy (beer) drinkers, 3rd place in alcohol consumption in the EU). And the situation is hardly rosy. Romania has 200 alcohol related deaths per million people (luckily the rate is decreasing), much like Scotland gets from drug use. Now of course, Scotland has it's own share of alcohol related deaths, at an even higher rate.

If you want to see alcohol related death rates in the world check this link:
https://ourworldindata.org/alcohol-c...-use-disorders

That one we are improving and actively doing something.

[Albannach]

Must be due to ugly weather.

The weather probably doesn't help but also the socio-economic problems, as well as lack of prospects and drugs being so readily available in working class communities.

A lot of the junkies in Scotland are from the 45+ age group and most would have grown up during the Thatcher years. I have seen some reports saying that the number of drug deaths was on a steady decline from 1979 to 1986, but the number began to pick up again in line with deindustrialisation and mass unemployment caused by the policies of the Tory government of the time, unemployment in Scotland was something like 12% during the Thatcher years, which was the highest had been since the great depression of the 1930's, I think for a lot of people drugs became a form of escape and we are still feeling the knock-on effect of that today.

There is clearly a correlation between deprivation and poverty and drug addiction, it isn't generally the upper or even middle classes that are dying of a heroin overdose. Though personal responsibilty or lack of is also to blame.

[Universe]

Romania has 200 alcohol related deaths per million people

The link you gave shows 2/100k=20/million.

[ixulescu]

The link you gave shows 2/100k=20/million.

You're right, I didn't pay attention.
That chart looks only at death rates caused by alcohol caused diseases.

But I know an older statistic (from 2000) that looked at all alcohol related deaths in Romania (including traffic and work place accidents) and there the rate was over 50 per 100k people (500 in a million).

[PaleoEuropean]

Without the Norman nobility those Scots have sure gone down hill (aside from the Stewart's who helped drive them down)

[Albannach]

Margaret Thatcher’s ‘callous’ policies linked with drugs deaths today

Rising inequality in Thatcher’s Britain has been blamed by academics for the increase in drugs deaths in Scotland.



Researchers from NHS Health Scotland and Glasgow University found a link between the political and economic picture in the 1980s and the continued rise in the fatalities north of the border.

Dundee was reaffirmed the drugs death capital of Scotland when 36 were recorded in 2015. Many of those have been attributed to ageing users who became addicted to hard drugs in the 1980s.

The latest analysis found that a cohort of poorer males within Generation X – those born in the 1960s and 1970s – were at increased risk of drugs deaths because of the “changing social, economic and political contexts of the 1980s”.

They were exposed to high unemployment, rising inequality and less state support, the researchers found, with those from deprived areas more likely to be affected.

The report said drugs-related deaths increased during the 1990s in Scotland because of the increased risk to those born between 1960 and 1980.

“This cohort effect is consistent with the hypothesis that exposure to the changing social, economic and political contexts of the 1980s created a delayed negative health impact,” it added.

Kezia Dugdale, the Scottish Labour leader, said the report reveals the “devastating legacy left behind by Margaret Thatcher’s callous policies”. She added: “For many drugs became a form of escape. A generation on, hundreds of people have already died from drug use, and many remain at risk.”

Scottish Conservative shadow health secretary Miles Briggs said Ms Dugdale is talking “nonsense”, adding Labour’s “record in office on tackling drug addiction is the worst in any developed country”.

“For the last 30 years we have seen a drugs policy which parks many addicts on Methadone programmes,” he added.

“Scottish Conservatives have been the only party calling for change to try to get people out of drugs and a life of addiction.”

Dr Andrew Fraser, of NHS Health Scotland, said the full impact of the drugs epidemic among Generation X is unlikely to be known for some time.

“As the cohort of people at greatest risk of drug-related deaths continues to age, drugs services will need to adapt,” he added.

https://www.thecourier.co.uk/fp/news...-deaths-today/

[Voskos]

Scots just dont give a fuck about anything. I have a couple of half scottish friends and they just live their life with no limits.

[Albannach]

Why drug-related deaths in Scotland are NOT two and a half times higher than rest of UK

From Reporting Scotland last night:

‘Drug-related deaths in Scotland are two and a half times higher than the rest of the UK.’

That would be a huge difference and straight off the bat as they say, it’s just not very plausible just as ‘Crime in England is two and a half times higher than in Scotland‘ or ‘Road deaths in Wales are two and a half times higher than in Northern Ireland’ would cause you to stop and think. Any undergraduate would know that there are almost certainly serious differences in the way the data has been collected and presented then investigate that.

The ONS statistics used by Reporting Scotland, 934 deaths or 172 per million do, at first sight, seem to suggest the rate is two and a half times higher but do not take into account regional variations within England (below) and come from a source which compares these with English data which are not gathered in the same way. See this telling example on page 47:

‘It follows that some deaths could (in theory) be counted differently in, say, Scotland and England. For example, a death from intentional self-poisoning by an uncontrolled substance would be counted in Scotland (but not in England) if a controlled substance was present in the body but was not believed to have contributed to the death (because the presence of the controlled substance would not be recorded in the data for England).’

Perhaps contributing to this problem deaths are more likely to be recorded as suicide in Scotland:

Unlike Scotland, in England and Wales, whether a death due to injury is classified as intentional or accidental depends on information provided by coroners. Narrative verdicts from coroners often do not provide information on whether the injuries were due to intentional self-harm, were accidental or were of undetermined intent. In these circumstances, coding rules mean that classification of the death defaults to ‘accidental’, and therefore suicides may be underestimated in England and Wales (and therefore also the UK).’

https://www.scotpho.org.uk/health-we...icide/data/uk/

Given England’s much greater population and diversity, a direct comparison with Scotland is meaningless. See these deaths per million regional figures:



drugdeathsenglandregions

https://cassioburycourt.com/2019/03/...misuse-deaths/

Should the English data be collected in the same way as the Scottish data would the level still be much higher or higher at all than in, eg, Northern England or Wales?

Also important is a comparison of these levels of death with other causes. Remember for Scotland it’s 172 in a million people but here were 228 alcohol-related deaths per million in 2017.

https://www.nrscotland.gov.uk/statis...hs/main-points

There were 1 851 smoking-related deaths in 2015.

http://www.healthscotland.scot/healt...ing-prevention

I’d offer to help but most undergraduates could do this.

https://thoughtcontrolscotland.com/2...an-rest-of-uk/