Suspected Drug Deaths in Scotland: April to June 2024

4. Methodology

The data in this report is operational information from Police Scotland who compile figures on the basis of reports from police officers attending scenes of death. This is management information and not subject to the same level of validation and quality assurance as Official Statistics. Accredited official statistics on drug deaths in Scotland are published annually by National Records of Scotland; the most recent publication covering deaths registered in 2023 was published on 20 August 2024.

More information on definitions, data sources, methodology and interpretation of the data, including the historical relationship between suspected drug death figures and drug misuse death statistics, can be found in the Methodology Annex.