Drugs and alcohol fuel high murder and suicide rate in Scotland

Alcohol and drug misuse mean Scots are almost twice as likely to take their own life or someone else's, compared to people living in England and Wales, according to UK researchers.

The findings from the National Confidential Inquiry into Suicide and Homicide by People with Mental Illness also found the number of mental health patients committing homicide or suicide was proportionately much higher in Scotland.

The report, commissioned by the Scottish Government, blamed these higher death rates north of the border on alcohol and drug consumption, both in the general population and among mental health patients.

Suicide rates in Scotland equate to 18.7 per 100,000 of the population, compared to 10.2 per 100,000 in England and Wales. Murder rates north of the border were 2.12 per 100,000 people compared to 1.23 per 100,000 in England and Wales, the report found.

'The most striking feature of rates north of the border is how much higher they are than in England and Wales,' said Louis Appleby, professor of psychiatry and director of the inquiry.

'Similarly, the homicide rate in Scotland is substantially higher than in England and Wales,' he added. 'In contrast to suicide rates, national homicide rates are high because of particularly high rates in certain areas of the country, namely Glasgow and Clyde and Argyll.'