17/08/2016 Reporting Scotland

The number of drugs deaths in Scotland has hit a record high.

more than 700 people died last year - a 15% increase on the year before.

Health professionals are calling for new strategies

to tackle the problem, including the introduction

of medically-supervised heroin for addicts most at risk.

Our home affairs correspondent, Reevel Alderson reports.

Front line troops in the fight to get drug deaths down.

Glasgow's assertive outreach workers.

Each day, teams tried to find users who

are injecting on the streets, putting themselves and the public

We are trying to promote the use of clean needles.

We also provide the antidote to opiate overdose.

You don't have to go far from Glasgow city

centre to find evidence of street drug use existing.

We found drugs paraphernalia lying in considerable

The people who are leaving this stuff are the people

most at risk of dying and they are the hardest to reach

Official figures just released show the scale of

There were 706 drug-related deaths in Scotland last

Older users, over 35, with long drug-taking histories

There are public health implications.

Needle sharing has led to a rise in infections, such as HIV

Copenhagen is one of many places around Europe offering users

the chance to receive medical grade heroin under supervision.

These ideas are one's health officials

here would like to explore to save lives and money.

There would be a cost benefit, cost reduction to the

Prisons, the criminal justice systems, housing,

We had three new members last month, which was quite

She offers support to families bereaved by addiction and

is in favour of supervised drug injection.

It is getting people out of the shadows.

The number of young people dying from drug-taking is coming down and

the number from taking drugs is the lowest in a decade.

Unemployment has fallen in Scotland and across the UK as a whole.

Official figures show the number of people out of work in Scotland

between April and June was down by 26,000.

It means the Scottish unemployment rate stands at 5.2%

- higher than the UK rate of 4.9% of the workforce.

The construction defects which closed 17 schools in Edinburgh

could have implications for buildings across the UK.

That's according to the leader of the City Council who's

commissioned an inquiry into what happened.

He was speaking as children returned to school in the capital

after the summer break. John McManus reports.

A massive storm had caused a wall of the school to collapse

Checks carried out on all of the city

public school is soon uncovered the same faults will do yesterday,

Reporting Scotland revealed 30 schools across the country had to

have repairs because of defective wall and header ties, like this one

In Edinburgh, thousands of pupils were unable to return to

school after Easter while repairs were made.

The first day of term hree at this high school in Edinburgh.

As pupils begin the academic year, the

council is starting its own enquiry as to why 17 of its schools had to

under the public private partnership championed by Labour.

Edinburgh Council says that financial model

It is not a contract issue, it is a construction

We'll be holding them to account for what has gone wrong.

The enquiry will report by the end of

December 2016 and I will be ramifications.

For the whole of Scotland and potentially the rest of

These pupils explained how they had to be bussed to different

I switched on my phone, I was studying, and then it

came through that we were not in school Monday.

Older pupils heading for exams were prioritised.

The actual teaching, they were not taught proper lessons.

Parents will await the outcome of the public

enquiry, expected to conclude in December.

To the Olympics and Scottish athletes have made

it through the heats in

two events on the track at the Olympic stadium this afternoon.

Andy Butchart qualified for Saturday's final of the five

thousand metres and Lynsey Sharp is through to the semi finals

Football and Celtic scored five goals in the first leg

of their Champions League play-off against Hapiel Beer Sheeva,

but the Israelis did manage to score two vital away

Tom Rogic and Leigh Griffiths put Celtic in charge before this free

kick from Griffiths gave them a 3-0 half-time lead.

But Celtic switched off after the break, conceding

The Scottish champions held their nerve with Moussa Dembele

and captain Scott Brown scoring to make it 5-2.

The second leg is in Israel next Tuesday.

Rugby and the SRU have announced that Gregor Townsend will become

the Scotland head coach in June next year.

The 43-year-old is currently in charge of the Glasgow Warriors

and will replace New Zealander Vern Cotter at the end of the season.

Townsend led Glasgow to the Pro 12 title in 2015.

Well, after a glorious day for much of the country,

It was glorious, 27 degrees in the north-west. Tonight it is dry with

clear spells but also some list and low cloud for the east coast. At

times in Tayside, the Eastern and central belt. Tomorrow is looking

fairly decent, still some cloud across many eastern parts but a dry

day for most. One or two showers. Across the UK as a whole, we have

this weather front out west producing cloud for Northern

Ireland, into Wales and the south-west. Many areas will be dry

and pleasant and warmth with temperatures around 20 to 24

Celsius. Workload around tomorrow compared to today but sunshine and

moderate winds. Friday is not pleasant. Low-pressure budging from

the south-west, a real change is it with cloudy, wet and windy weather.

It starts dry with some sunshine but the cloud and the rain moves on from

the south-west and journeys right across the country as we head to the

day. It will be breezy and equally feel with temperatures around 1718

Celsius. And that's Reporting Scotland this

Wednesday evening.