Drug death rate in West Lothian stays the same for third year in a row

dailyrecord.co.uk:

A drug and alcohol abuse organisation said they were working to ensure help was available to those in need, as it emerged that the number of drug deaths in West Lothian had remained unchanged for the third year in a row.There were 32 drug deaths in West Lothian last year.

The figure matches the number of deaths in 2021 and 2022 - despite a national drop in figures, released this week by National Records for Scotland.Both a health professional and a senior Labour politician spoke of the wider inequalities in society which can trigger drug use1,051 people died due to drug misuse in 2022, according to latest statistics published by National Records of Scotland.This is a decrease of 279 deaths compared with 2021, representing the lowest number of drug misuse deaths since 2017.Mike Reid, Chair of West Lothian Drug and Alcohol Partnership said: “The National Records of Scotland reported that in 2022, 32 people from West Lothian lost their lives directly to drugs.“West Lothian HSCP and Alcohol and Drug Partnership convey our deepest sympathy for the families and friends affected: each and every death is one too many.“All services working in the local area continue to work together alongside communities to improve our services and tackle the wider inequalities that lead to drug deaths.“We will ensure that people can access services through an approach embedded in human rights, placing local communities at the heart of everything we do, to improve outcomes for people and families affected by problematic drug use.”Despite the national drop, drug misuse deaths are still more common than they were two decades ago.