Some breaking news now. The annual figures for the number of drug-related deaths in Scotland have been released by National Records of Scotland. Let's get out to Connor Gillis, our Scotland Correspondent, who has all the details for us. Connor.

Yeah, well, here we are, yet again, the annual depressing drum beat, that rhythm that has become all too familiar here in Scotland when it comes to drug deaths north of the border. In 2023, 1,172 people lost their lives to drugs here in Scotland. That is a 12% increase on the previous year. Now, there had been some small hopes this time last year when there had been a small decrease that things may be turning, the tide may be turning when it comes to this shameful tag that Scotland has been branded with for so many years. But lo and behold, that is not to be the case. A 12% increase on last year. Clearly, Scotland still riddled with this problem. To put that in context, it is the worst drug death rate in Europe. When it comes to drug poisoning, it's two and a half times higher, a rate compared to England and Northern Ireland as well. Many people constantly ask this question, Why Scotland? Why is this so much worse here in Scotland? Well, clearly, experts have suggested for a long time that poverty is a key driver in this. And these figures released in the past few minutes, suggest that people living in Scotland's most deprived communities are 15 times more likely to die from a drug's overdose than if they don't live there.

But another big issue that experts have been finding over the past year or so and growing prevalence has been what's known as polydrug use. This mixing of lethal cocktails of substances, street drugs like street benzos, street diazopans, street Valium, that are four, five, six times as stronger as the prescription drugs as well. When you mix that with the likes of heroine and other drugs, it leads to this huge spike in deaths. It leads to these very deadly consequences. One particular trend that experts have also been talking about in the past few days around the figures of number of people dying is this combination of a new drug that has been on the rise recently called Xylazine. Now, it is a powerful animal tranquiliser, and that has been combined with the likes of Fentanyl, and that has been called by some experts, a zombie drug. How has that played in to the figures here? Now, clearly, the Scottish Government is in full control of this, is fully responsible in this area. They have said that they have invested record numbers of money, £250 million to try and turn the tide on this shameful tag that Scotland bears.

But many people will be questioning today as these figures continue to rise, a 12% rise, whether that strategy is working. That's certainly something that we'll be interrogating across the day here on Sky News.