Substance Use - Data
Consultations
Drugs
Problem drug use is defined as the ‘problematic use of opiates (including illicit and prescribed methadone use) and/or the illicit use of benzodiazepines and implies routine and prolonged use as opposed to recreational and occasional drug use’. People who use stimulants such as cocaine and amphetamines are not recorded in local and national figures.
Due to the illicit nature of drugs misuse, it is difficult to say how many people have problems with drugs.
Drug related deaths
Drug-related deaths are defined as a death where the underlying cause was drug abuse or where the underlying cause was poisoning and there was a controlled substance in the body. This definition includes accidental and intentional poisoning but excludes cases where drug use indirectly led to the death or where chronic health conditions caused by drug use caused the death.
18 and 23 drug related deaths per year in Midlothian (between 2019 and 2023). This has been on the increase since the year 2000, with a large increase since 2017.
Alcohol related deaths
17.6 deaths per 100,000 population (average age-sex standardised rate in Midlothian of alcohol-related deaths for the five-year period from 2019 to 2023) (21.8 per 100,000 population in Scotland ScotPHO, accessed Feb 2025).
Nationally statistics include conditions where each death is a direct consequence of alcohol misuse. They do not include deaths due to diseases for which alcohol is a risk factor (such as cancer).
Alcohol related hospital stays are the number of general acute inpatient and day case stays with a diagnosis of alcohol misuse in any position.
351 alcohol related hospital admissions in Midlothian (2023/24) (ScotPHO, 2025).
11 of Midlothian’s intermediate zones sit above the Midlothian average for alcohol related hospital stays including (rate of admissions per 100,000 population, 2023/24):
- Dalkeith (886)
- Penicuik East (783)
- Newtongrange (655)
- North Gorebridge (654)
- Gorebridge & Middleton (631)
- Loanhead (556)
- Bonnyrigg South (443)
- Mayfield (422)
- Thornybank (380)
- Pentland (378)
- Easthouses (371)
Alcohol related harm is most acutely felt in the most deprived communities (Public Health Scotland, 2024). The most deprived SIMD quintile in Midlothian has an age-sex standardised rate per 100,000 population of 586, whereas the least deprived quintile has a rate of 206.6.
Page updated: February 2026