Scotland has highest drug death rate in EU
The number of drug-related deaths in Scotland soared to 1,187 last year, according to official statistics, BBC reported. The figure is 27% higher than the previous year, and the highest since records began in 1996.
It means there were more drug-related deaths in Scotland last year than the 1,136 alcohol-specific deaths. And the country's drug death rate is now nearly three times that of the UK as a whole, and is higher than that reported for any other EU country.
The latest figures also mean Scotland has a higher drug death rate than the one reported for the US, which was previously thought to be the highest rate in the world, added the source.