The solution to Scotland's drug problem may just have little to do with those who use drugs and everything to do with those who do not.

Thousands of hours have been spent trying to solve the drug epidemic that killed more than 1187 people last year - a 27% increase from the year before with no signs of slowing down in 2019.

Tangible proposals tend to focus on those who take the drugs - which makes sense when you consider they're the ones most likely to be killed by the poisons they're compelled to take into their bodies. Many suggestions to eliminate the problem are ambitious and controversial - safe injection sites where those who use drugs can deal with their addictions in an environment where they are unlikely to overdose and far more likely to get help or decriminalisation to remove the criminal stigma that keeps people from accessing help that is available.

But these interventions are unlikely to go very far without the support and understanding from those in the community - something that was jarringly clear from a handwritten letter delivered to the newsroom last week whose all-caps content highlight the enormity of the crisis and the near-impossibility of providing help to those who want to reboot their lives.

"It's all self-inflicted, the more of them who die the better, they are a dreg on society, none of them would be missed... let's have sensible news."

The source of his anger was a documentary STV News produced called Finding a Fix, which highlighted real stories from Dundee.

A man who lost his wife to drugs. A mother fighting to keep her daughter from relapsing. A woman battling to help others after overcoming her own addiction.

This documentary was followed up by a chunky piece of reporting on the Dundee Drug Commission, which released its report last month and was the focus of a large piece of our news programming when it was finally made available to the public.

The report contained some of the usual recommendations - better leadership in the community, streamlined access to services. But it also spoke of the need for better conversations, something which seems easy to roll your eyes at from a distance.

"The problems of the past must be left behind and a culture of openness, honesty, respect and trust must be central to the partnership as it takes forward this work," commission chairman Robert Peat said as the commission recommended challenging the stigma towards people who use drugs and their families.

The letter writer - who left his name but not a return address - is as much to blame for society's failure to help those who use drugs as the many other socio-economic forces that led them toward drugs in the first place.

The news industry hasn't covered itself in glory over the years either, focusing on the more sensational problems than the practical solutions being put in place around the world to help people turn their lives around when they are at their most vulnerable.

So despite his misplaced disgust, our letter writer is correct to call out for more sensible news.

I can't respond to the writer, so I'll go ahead and say it here: We will spend as much time as we can reporting on the work being done in our communities to put an end to the country's drug crisis. We'll be constructive - focusing on solutions instead of problems.

Our letter writer may believe that each drug death is a net gain for society. We do not.

And that's why we'll keep doing "sensible news".

Steven Ladurantaye is STV's Head of News and Current Affairs. If you'd like to talk to him about anything you've seen or read on STV News you can contact him by email at steven.ladurantaye@stv.tv