26/09/2026
This is a hard post to write so bare with me.
1,133 LIVES LOST. 💔
Not numbers.
Not statistics.
People. Families. Communities.
In 2025, Scotland lost 1,133 people to drug-related deaths, an 11% increase in just one year.
And perhaps one of the most devastating figures of all:
If you live in one of Scotland’s most deprived communities, the rate of drug deaths is 15 TIMES HIGHER than in our least deprived communities.
Read that again.
15 TIMES HIGHER.
This is not simply a drug crisis.
This is a crisis of poverty, inequality, trauma, health and social justice.
At SISCO, we have campaigned for years against Scotland's unacceptable levels of drug deaths. We work every day with the people behind these statistics, in our prisons, in our communities and with families who have already buried far too many people.
To every family grieving today: we are so sorry.
Sorry that despite years of warnings, campaigning, strategies, reports and promises, families are still losing the people they love.
And to the Scottish Government: radical action is no longer optional.
We need investment where the deaths are happening.
We need equal investment.
We need rehab beds.
We need harm reduction AND accessible treatment for recovery.
We need trauma-responsive services, mental-health support, housing, meaningful pathways out of poverty and lived-experience organisations at the heart of decision-making.
Most importantly, we need to stop expecting the communities carrying the greatest levels of trauma and deprivation to survive with the least resources.
1,133 people.
15 times higher in our poorest communities.
Enough.
Scotland can, and must, do better.
For the 1,133 lives lost, and for every life we still have the opportunity to save, we need radical action NOW.
The Scottish Government Scottish National Party (SNP) The Labour Party Conservatives
