The latest drug and alcohol deaths reports show hundreds of people in Glasgow continue to lose their lives each year.

Glasgow had the highest number of suspected drug deaths in Scotland for the first six months of 2024.

Alcohol related deaths published on the same day show hundreds of people dying in the city each year.

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According to the Police Scotland figures for suspected drug deaths, 133 people died in Glasgow between January and June this year.

Across Scotland, the number of people who died was 589.

The figures follow from the annual report for 2023 which showed another rise in deaths, where 246 died in the city.

Despite Scottish Government statements over the last three years that it was tackling the country’s high drug death rate, people continue to die in numbers far higher than the rest of the UK and most of Europe.

The latest alcohol statistics show hundreds continue to die each year.

The new report, for 2023, found in total, 1,277 deaths in Scotland were attributed to alcohol-specific causes.

Figures for council areas are given as a running five-year total.

Over the last five years, the number of deaths in Glasgow was 880.

It is down from a peak around 2001 to 2006 but still a worryingly high number and has been on the rise for the last 12 years.

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Phillipa Haxton, Head of Vital Events Statistics at National Records and Statistics, said: “The rate of alcohol-specific deaths peaked in 2006 and then fell until 2012. Since then it has generally risen.

“Those aged 45-64 and 65-74 continue to have the highest mortality rates. If we look at the average age at death, that has risen over time.

“The mortality rates for those aged 65 to 74, and 75 and over, were at their highest since we began recording these figures in 1994.

“As the same time for age 25-44 the mortality rate has been fairly stable over the last decade.”

Opposition politicians said the deaths were preventable.

Sandesh Gulhane, Glasgow MSP and Conservative health spokesperson, said the Scottish Government must back the Right to Recovery Bill which would enshrine in law a right to treatment for addiction, for all those who need it, including residential rehabilitation.

He said: “It has the potential to be a game-changer in our fight against addiction and these latest appalling figures should be a catalyst for SNP ministers to back it.”

Carol Mochan, Scottish Labour Public Health spokesperson said “Every single one of these deaths is a travesty and the scale of this crisis is a national scandal.

“All alcohol and drug deaths are preventable and the number of lives being cut tragically short shames this SNP government.

“The number of deaths being directly caused by alcohol is just one part of the damage alcohol does in Scotland, with many more lives being ruined.

“This tragedy is a damning indictment of the SNP’s record of failure in government and a reflection of its past cuts to drug and alcohol services.”