Deprivation, trauma and vulnerability. . . the mix which often leads to drug death

Dundee community. His parents were separated or divorced and he had contact with only one of them.

His parents had substance misuse and mental health issues and he had suffered physical or sexual abuse.

He started taking drugs at 20, and by 26 was injecting.

He had an unstable relationship, has committed crimes to fund his drug use and had been in and out of prison.

At the time of his death, he had a cocktail of four drugs in his system — among them, heroin.

The report showed that 77% of all the drugs death victims were male, 90% were unemployed, and 92% living in rented accommodation.

Meanwhile, 44% of them were living alone at the time of their death while 58% were single, separated, divorced or widowed.

Thirteen of the victims were married or cohabiting and seven were in a romantic relationship.

More than half of the victims had children, while six youngsters under the age of 16 were living with their parent at the time of the death.

More than half of victims died while in the company or in close proximity to others.

In 19 of these cases, someone was in the same room as the victim at the time of death.

Ms Snowden said that most of the victims had “extensive criminal histories”, with 41 convicted of a crime at some point in their lives and 31 of them spending time in prison.

She added: “It is highly likely that a high proportion of the individuals were i mprisoned for a reason directly or indirectly related to their substance misuse, for example, to fund their habit.”

Heroin and morphine, both opiates, were involved in 39 of the deaths — the highest proportion seen since data collection began in 2009.

Methadone was involved in 48% of deaths, the lowest since data collection began. Benzodiazepines, such as diazepam, was the second most commonly found drug in victims of overdose.

Ms Snowden’s report concluded that an upward trend in the number of drugs deaths in Tayside continued in 2015.

She said: “Tayside, and Dundee city in particular, continue to have a poor record in relation to substance use and drug deaths should remain a high priority.

“The demographic of a drug death in Tayside has changed very little over time with the majority being male, white Scottish unemployed.

“There continues to be a clear association between drug death and high levels of deprivation, trauma and vulnerability throughout life.”

The report added that recent prison release was a risk factor to drug death.

“Every opportunity should be taken to intervene to minimise risk prior to release,” Ms Snowden said.

“This includes promoting engagement in substance misuse services and ensuring a wide range of treatment options are available to patients.”

She also said that although three-quarters of the victims had been known to substance misuse services at some point in the five years prior to their death, only 44% were with a service when they died.

SEE t omorrow’s Weekend Tele to read one woman’s hardhitting experience of drug addiction. and