Scotland’s drug-death epidemic may have peaked, data suggests

Reason could be shrinking pool of most vulnerable, say experts as report shows first fall in deaths since 2013

The growing epidemic of drug-related deaths in Scotland may finally have peaked, data suggests, with experts warning that one reason could be that the pool of people most at risk of dying from overdoses is shrinking.

Scotland has long had the highest drug-related death rate of any country in Europe.