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NEWS ROUND-UP

Scotland sees 3 per cent fall in alcohol-specific deaths

The number of deaths wholly attributable to alcohol fell by 3 per cent in Scotland last year, according to the latest figures from National Records of Scotland( NRS). There were 1,152 alcohol-specific deaths registered in 2025, with a slight increase in the number of deaths among females. However, the death rate among men is still twice that among women, NRS points out. While the alcohol-specific death rate in the most deprived communities has also fallen, it remains nearly five times higher than in the least deprived.

Scotland and Northern Ireland continue to have the highest rates of alcoholspecific deaths in the UK, while the latest set of Scottish drug-related death figures showed an 11 per cent increase on 2024.‘ The number of deaths this year is the lowest from 2020 onwards and well below the peak of 2006,’ said NRS head of vital events statistics Phillipa Haxton.‘ However, the rate of deaths is around 1.7 times as high as 1994 when records for this series began.’
Despite the small decrease the number of deaths‘ remains far too high,’ said alcohol minister Maree Todd.‘ The Scottish Government and its partners are making progress in tackling alcohol harms, but we must do more. That’ s why we are providing record levels of funding of over £ 160m this year for alcohol and drugs programmes, widening access to treatment and residential services, and improving pathways through detox, crisis care and stabilisation.’ A new alcohol harm prevention plan would be published soon, she added.
While the fall was good news, the Scottish Government had‘ rightly’ described the situation as a public health emergency, said Alcohol Focus Scotland chief executive Carolyn Lochhead.‘ We’ re yet to see a response matching the scale and urgency required. The recent alcohol and drug strategy commits to improving treatment and services, which is vital. But to make real change, we need to give equal priority to preventing people from needing these services in the first place. We want to see that happen as part of a comprehensive prevention plan, with action to
‘ We’ re yet to see a response matching the scale and urgency required.’
CAROLYN LOCHHEAD
keep controlling alcohol prices, restrict advertising and reform the licensing system.’
Alcohol-specific deaths 2025 available at www. nrscotland. gov. uk

Tik Tok‘ failing to address drug sales’ alcohol-focus-scotland. org. uk

THE VAST MAJORITY OF TIKTOK ACCOUNTS identified as connecting their users to people selling drugs in the UK were still accessible two weeks after being reported, says a study led by researchers at the University of Bath.
The social media platform returned a finding of‘ no violation’ on 95 per cent of accounts reported for suspected breaches of rules on advertising illegal drugs, says A prospective audit of TikTok’ s response to UK drug-selling accounts.
The research team carried out what they believe to be the first independent real-time audit of how a major social media platform responds when users report accounts they believe to advertising drugs for sale. Between February and July researchers identified more than 450 UK-facing
TikTok accounts that offered to supply drugs, with references to substances including spice, cocaine and controlled medicines – all displayed UK targeting, a‘ drug-related cue’, and an‘ offer or route to supply’.
The researchers then used the in-app reporting function to notify TikTok. The platform returned an‘ explicit“ no violation” decision’ for 95 per cent of reports, with 83 per cent of the accounts remaining publicly accessible after 14 days.
The report stresses that the findings‘ should not be interpreted as evidence that all drug selling content escapes detection by TikTok’, with the platform reporting the removal of large amounts of content through its own monitoring systems. The study, however, was
Between February and July researchers identified more than 450 UKfacing TikTok accounts that offered to supply drugs.
examining‘ what happens when a user directly reports an account’ that appears to be involved in illegal drug supply.‘ Platforms often publish impressive statistics showing how much content they proactively remove, but these tell us very little
about whether a platform acts when a user directly reports apparent criminal activity,’ said study lead Professor Chris Pudney.‘ That gap should be tested, not assumed away.’
Report available at www. sciencedirect. com
Iryna Shatilova / Dreamstime
4 • DRINK AND DRUGS NEWS • NOVEMBER 2026 WWW. DRINKANDDRUGSNEWS. COM