Almost £2m pledged to support women battling drug addiction

The drugs minister has announced nearly £2 million in funding for women battling addiction.

Maree Todd delivered a statement to the Scottish Parliament on Thursday responding to this week’s figures showing drug deaths in Scotland last year fell by 13%, although they remain the worst in Europe.

Ms Todd told MSPs the number of deaths remains “far too high” and that she is “determined to continually improve how addicts are supported”.

She said £1.1 million has now been awarded to Aberlour Children’s Charity for its perinatal support and recovery services.

In Glasgow, £750,000 will be delivered through the Corra Foundation to make it easier for women affected by substance use to access services.

Ms Todd also announced cash to support young people, with the Winning Scotland’s Planet Youth initiative, which aims to create an environment that consistently supports young people to make healthy choices, being allocated £750,000.

Some 1,017 people died from drug misuse last year.

Men are more than twice as likely to die as a result of drugs compared to women, although the gap has been narrowing since the early 2000s when men were around five times more likely to die than women.

Ms Todd told Parliament: “Every drug death is a profound tragedy, every drug death is one too many, and every drug death is preventable.

“I want to express my deepest condolences to the family, friends and loved ones of the 1,017 people who lost their lives to drugs in 2024.

“Our National Mission on Drugs has delivered a number of positive developments, including widening access to life-saving naloxone kits to reverse overdoses, and creating more residential rehabilitation beds.

“It is welcome that we have seen progress with the number of deaths at the lowest level since 2017, but these tragic drug deaths figures remind us, however, that there is much more to do.

“To that end, we are providing record funding of more than £160 million for alcohol and drugs in 2025-26. We will also accelerate the delivery of new initiatives, such as the drug checking pilot project.

“Subject to the Scottish Parliament’s agreement, we will be maintaining funding beyond next year to address harm caused by drugs and intensively support recovery.

“While there is nothing we can do to bring back those whose lives have been so tragically cut short, nor to ease the unimaginable grief that their loved ones must feel, we will continue to do all we can to end the devastating impacts of drugs in Scotland.”

Dame Jackie Baillie, Scottish Labour’s health spokeswoman, said action by the Government to decrease drug deaths has been “far too slow”.

She said funding for alcohol and drugs partnerships has been cut in real-terms as she warned about the rise of synthetic drugs.

“There a new danger happening right now,” she told MSPs. “The rise of synthetic opioids in our communities.

“They do not respond to typical doses of naloxone and the number of deaths is increasing.

“You only need to look at the scale of the problem in America to see what is coming here.”

Dame Jackie criticised SNP calls for drugs to be decriminalised, and added: “Time would be better spent on providing routes out of addiction and improved access to rehabilitation services.”