Suspected drug deaths in Scotland: July to September 2024

3. Main points

Figure 1: Suspected drug deaths have fallen over recent quarters but remain at a high level

Note: Q1 is January to March, Q2 is April to June, Q3 is July to September, Q4 is October to December. Source: Police Scotland.

Between January and September 2024:

• There were 833 suspected drug deaths, 7% (67) fewer than during the same period of 2023.
• Males accounted for 74% of suspected drug deaths. This compares with 72% between January and September 2023.
• There were 217 suspected drug deaths of females, a decrease of 15% (38) compared to the same period in 2023.
• A majority (65%) of suspected drug deaths were of people aged between 35 and 54. This is broadly in line with previous quarters.
• There were 29 suspected drug deaths in the under 25 age group, 37% (17) fewer than between January and September 2023.
• The Police Divisions with the greatest number of suspected drug deaths were: Greater Glasgow (186), Lanarkshire (102) and Edinburgh City (70).

For quarter 3, July to September 2024, there were 244 suspected drug deaths recorded. This was 25 (9%) fewer than the previous calendar quarter (April to June 2024), 56 (19%) fewer than the same calendar quarter in the previous year (July to September 2023) and is the lowest number recorded in a single calendar quarter since the quarter ending September 2022.

Note that numbers of suspected drug deaths fluctuate from quarter to quarter. Care should be taken not to interpret movements between individual calendar quarters as indicative of any long-term trend.

Overall, there were 1,130 suspected drug deaths over the 12 months to September 2024, 5% (65) fewer than the 12 months to September 2023.

More detail on the statistics presented above is available in the workbook provided alongside this report on the supporting documents page.