Dundee is Scotland’s drug death capital

If you have watched the film Trainspotting, you will be forgiven for thinking that Edinburgh or its close neighbour Glasgow is Scotland’s drug capital. However, a recent report has revealed that the most dangerous place to live in Scotland when it comes to drug deaths is a remote town more famous for its cakes than its drugs: Dundee.

Dundee has been ranked as Scotland’s drug death capital for the third time in four years. Mortality rates linked to substance abuse have risen to their highest level since 2009. Currently 0.22 people out of every 1,000 in Dundee will die from a substance-related incident, according to the latest figures from ISD Scotland.

In 2012, 32 people died as a result of drug abuse in Dundee. National Drug Related Deaths Database (Scotland) Report 2012 looked at the information recorded on 531 drug-related deaths in Scotland.

Men are still at greater risk than women. 75% of all deaths were male and over half lived in the most deprived areas of Scotland. 67% of all deaths were in the age group 25 to 44.

Of all deaths, around three-quarters had been in contact with a drug treatment service at least once in their lives. This suggests that drug treatment services are failing to cope with the huge demand in their services today.

Drug users are also rarely restricting themselves to a single drug; in 97% of cases the deceased was found to have more than one drug present in their body.

It is unclear what makes Dundee such a drug magnet, although the report suggests that social and economic deprivation may be a key factor. Last year Dundee came second in a child poverty poll, and a report in This is Money in November 2013 rated Angus and Dundee City as the third worst place to live in the UK. This is a very clear sign that drug abuse is very closely linked with social and economic problems.