Calls for more data on drugs misuse
Paul O’Kane has called on the Scottish Government to“collect all the data that we possibly can”on drug use and drug deaths.
Last Thursday, during Portfolio Questions at Holyrood, O’Kane told Keith Brown, the minister for justice and veterans, that the parliament’s public audit committee has suggested there is a significant risk in terms of drug use data the“scale of the problem is not being properly captured or understood”.
O’Kane also stated that“data collection must be robust in order to support people and their families”.
The Labour MSP then asked Brown about what further steps the Scottish Government would take to improve the quality of data collection relating to drug use and in particular the use of“potent new drugs”that, O’Kane pointed out, could potentially be linked to the spike in the number of deaths in the last quarter of 2022.
Brown said that he would pass on O’Kane’s question to minister for drugs policy Angela Constance and that he would ensure that he the Labour MSP would get a response.
Scottish Labour shadow minister for drugs policy O’Kane said:“If we aren’t collecting all the data that’s out there then we are failing to recognise the actual scale of drug abuse and drug deaths in Scotland”
“It isn’t enough to say that every death is a tragedy, and hope that the figure of drug deaths reduce, we need to become more informed and be alert to new factors that could be contributing to the rise in drug use or drug deaths.”
“I would urge the Scottish Government to ensure that as a country we can collect all the data that we possibly can.”
The Express previously told how figures revealed 50 people died as a result of drug taking in Renfrewshire in 2021.
One of the worst affected areas in Scotland, the National Records of Scotland revealed earlier this year how between 2017 and 2021 in Renfrewshire, 29 deaths per 100,000 population were due to drug misuse.