A Tayside drug death victim is most likely to be a jobless 38-year-old white man from Dundee who has a chaotic personal life and a criminal record.
He suffered a difficult childhood, left school at 16 and he has children.
That profile was presented to the latest meeting of NHS Tayside’s Dundee community health partnership.
Lucy Denvir, consultant in public health, said victims are becoming older with long-standing multiple and complex social and health problems.
The meeting considered circumstances around new figures which showed there were 34 drug deaths in Tayside in 2013, a fall of 20 or 37% from the previous year, and what can be done to tackle the problem.
Last year’s figure was similar to 2010 and 2011 but Ms Denvir stressed that no one was being complacent.
The typical victim is also likely to have had a history of overdoses and is likely to have died through taking a cocktail of prescribed and non-prescribed drugs with other users.
Toxicology results showed an increase in the presence of anti-depressants, from 48% in 2012 to 59% in 2013.
To deal with the problem, an early intervention programme has been started to help children affected by their parents’ drug taking and to improve the general medical care of substance users.
The anti-overdose drug naloxone will be made available to users and their carers through a special team and more drug prevention activities will take place with offenders.
More work will go into understanding the use and impact of recreational psychoactive drugs, including alcohol and ecstasy.
Recognising that Dundee still has the highest rate of drug-related deaths in Scotland double the national average Dr Denvir added: “The pattern of drug-related deaths in Tayside largely mirrors the national picture, with the profile of victims becoming increasingly older with long-standing multiple and complex social and health problems.
“The report identified several priorities to inform future policy and practice in reducing drug-related deaths in Tayside.
“While NHS Tayside welcomes the fact that the number of drug-related deaths in Tayside has shown some reduction, we cannot be complacent.
“Substance use and drug-related deaths is a significant issue in Tayside and tackling it remains a high priority.”