Marra Demands Change of Course Over ‘Indefensible’ Drugs Death Crisis
The Scottish Government must urgently change course to tackle the ‘indefensible’ drug death crisis, Scottish Labour leader Michael Marra warned today.
In his first FMQs as Scottish Labour leader, Mr Marra revealed the clinical decisions taken in 2013 that ‘opened Pandora’s box’ and said that Scots are 15 times more likely to die from drugs if they are poor.
Michael Marra stated that over 7,000 Scots had lost their lives to drugs since the Scottish Government declared a public health emergency and offered to work with the Scottish Government to tackle the crisis.
Commenting, Scottish Labour leader Michael Marra said: “The scourge of nitazenes and synthetic opioids of this kind is not new.
“People buy these pills by the handful, because in 2013 prescriptions for Valium were withdrawn under this government.
“I was leading the Leverhulme Research Centre for Forensic Science a decade ago when we saw the consequences.
“We clearly identified that poly drug use and synthetics were at the heart of the huge surge in deaths after 2014.
“No Minister has ever answered for this.
“Pandora’s box was opened and deaths in Scotland skyrocketed to over two-and-a-half-times that of England, with the same drug laws.
“The government’s record is indefensible.
“Over 7,000 people have lost their lives since the Scottish Government declared a public health emergency.
“Scots are 15 times more likely to die from drugs if they are poor than if they are rich.
“If this was a middle-class epidemic, we would have locked down, legislated, found the money, educated widely and reformed indiscriminately.
“Nothing near that scale has happened.
“This is one of the most serious issues facing Scotland.
“If the First Minister is prepared to change course, and bring a new plan to Parliament, Labour will work with him on it.”
ENDS
Notes to editors
Drug-related deaths, 2020– 2025
| 2020 | 1,339 |
| 2021 | 1,330 |
| 2022 | 1,051 |
| 2023 | 1,172 |
| 2024 | 1,017 |
| 2025 | 1,133 |
| Total | 7,042 |
Source: Drug-related deaths in Scotland, 2025 – National Records of Scotland (NRS)
In 2013, NHS Scotland introduced strict board-wide Quality Prescribing Indicators for benzodiazepines. By 2014, this led to a widespread, voluntary ban across primary and secondary healthcare on prescribing 10mg diazepam tablets (popularly known on the street as “blues”).
GPs were heavily restricted to prescribing only low-dose 2mg tablets for a maximum of 7 days, and they were tasked with systematically reducing or tapering off existing long-term prescriptions.
