Depressing figures this morning show 1,339 drug-related deaths were registered in Scotland in 2020, an increase of 5% on 2019 and the largest number of drug-related deaths since records began in 1996. The seventh year in a row that drug-related deaths in Scotland have hit an all-time high.

Compare this to Portugal, which decriminalised possession and despite having twice the population had only 62 deaths, whereas last year Scotland was crowned Europe’s drug death capital – a title that they have retained this year. The Scottish Government can’t escape the fact that Scotland has the same drugs laws as the rest of the UK, yet more than triple the number of drug deaths. Since the 2011 election in which the SNP won their first overall majority, drug-related deaths have more than doubled – rising from 584 to 1,339. It seems the root cause of Scotland’s addiction problem is the SNP’s addiction to focusing on independence above all else…