Scotland's latest drug-deaths figures are as shocking as Scottish Government's lack of effective action – Scotsman comment

The average number of suspected drug deaths between March and May this year was 100 a month, new figures reveal

Earlier this month, the Scottish Government published a policy paper in which it called for the UK Government to either decriminalise drugs for personal supply or give it the powers to do so in order to tackle Scotland’s shocking drug-deaths rate. The idea was rejected within hours, as ministers surely knew it would be. The paper concluded by arguing that “independence or further devolution” would enable Scotland to introduce such a policy.

If there is a better example of misusing a most serious issue as a means to promote independence, it is hard to imagine. It borders on a grim self-parody of a government that – despite Nicola Sturgeon’s shocking admission in 2021 that her government took its “eye off the ball” over drug deaths – still only has eyes for constitutional matters.