I won’t ever sit back and declare ‘job done’, says drugs minister

Drugs minister Maree Todd has said she will never “sit back, relax and say ‘job done’” in the fight against drug deaths.

Todd was appointed to the role in June following the death of Christina McKelvie earlier this year from secondary breast cancer.

Despite the circumstances of the appointment, the former mental health pharmacist said she was “excited” to move from the social care brief to drugs as the Government continues its push to tackle the level of addiction and death across Scotland.

The minister inherits a legacy which has been long-criticised by opponents, with Scotland having the highest drug death rates in Europe – a figure which actually increased between 2022 and 2023 in the latest available confirmed data.

Just this week, figures showed the number of suspected drug deaths between March and May of this year increased by 15% compared to the previous 13 weeks.

Speaking to the PA news agency, the minister said there is a “consensus” that “the work we are doing is the right kind of work”, but the Government is responding to a “changing landscape”.

When the Government launched its national mission on drugs under the premiership of Nicola Sturgeon, the focus was largely on opioids such as heroin.

But that has shifted, reflecting an increase in the injection of cocaine and the spectre of synthetic opioids known as nitazenes.

On the latter, the minister said: “They are unbelievably potent, super-strong, very tiny amounts can cause fatal overdoses easily.”

As it looks to deal with the shifting threat posed by drugs, she stressed the need for the Government to be “agile”.

Todd said: “We’ve just had our rapid action drug alerts and response (Radar) statistics released this week and we’ve seen a rise in deaths, a rise in Naloxone use, a rise in hospital admissions.

“We are seeing some absolutely significant and tangible harm occurring because of the change in the drug supply.

“I suppose the lesson that provides to me is that we need to be agile.

“I don’t think we do one thing and this job is done and we fixed the problem that Scotland faces, we have to continually look carefully at what’s happening in Scotland, understand the challenges that we’re facing, understand the harms that people are experiencing.”

She added: “I don’t think I would ever sit back and relax and say ‘job done’.

“I think we’ve seen some significant progress, but each of these deaths is an absolute tragedy – it’s a family who’s lost a loved one, it’s a loss of potential and contribution to our communities.”

The way forward, she said , is a job for the whole of Government, saying there is a need for “primary prevention”.

The minister said: “We need to be thinking, why is it that Scotland faces this challenge and what can we do to shift the likelihood that people growing up in Scotland will turn to drugs and alcohol as they grow older?”

Earlier this year, the Thistle Centre opened in the east end of Glasgow, a UK-first safe consumption room giving those struggling with addiction a safe place to inject drugs.

Since opening, the facility has supervised 3,008 injecting episodes and dealt with 39 medical emergencies, which could include administering Naloxone or even resuscitation.

“People would definitely have died if they had not been in that unit,” Ms Todd said.

“I think in March, there was a cluster of very profound overdose episodes, I think this is the issue with nitazenes, they act very fast, so people were really unwell really quickly and it takes a lot of Naloxone because of its potency.”

In other parts of Scotland without the benefit of a safe consumption room where that specific batch of drug was used, the minister said: “Where people used it, they did die.”