Fife drug deaths:  Kingdom’s latest figures revealed

The Scottish Government described the figures – which saw a 5% rise in deaths across the country – as a “national shame” as it announced further measures to tackle the crisis.

Data from the National Records of Scotland show there were 65 drug-related deaths recorded in Fife in 2020.

However, this was down from 81 the year before.

Angela Constance, the Scottish Government’s minister for drug policy, told MSPs she was committed to getting more drug users “into the protection of treatment and recovery”, with a target for people in treatment programmes due to be set by next year.

Ms Constance said: “The loss of life in Scotland from drug-related deaths is as heartbreaking as it is unacceptable.

“It’s our national shame, and I offer my condolences to all those who have lost a loved one as I continue with a commitment to do everything possible in our new national mission to turn the tide on rising drug-related deaths.”

Deprivation continued to be a major factor, with those in the poorest areas of the country 18 times more likely to die than their more affluent counterparts.

In 2020, the death rate from drugs in the most deprived areas of Scotland was 68.2 per 100,000 of the population compared to just 3.7 in the most affluent areas, a gap which has widened in the past two decades.

In Fife, there were an average of 17.3 deaths between 2016-20 for every 100,000 people who lived in the area.

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