‘Crisis on top of crisis’: Scotland faces threat from dangerous form of opioids, experts warn | Scotland
Health experts warned that Scotland is already facing a new drug death crisis due to high -power synthetic opioids linked to more than 100 deaths.
The warning comes after the publication of official data showing that the total number of deaths caused by drug addiction in Scotland decreased by 13% last year.
The data show that Scotland, the worst of Europe, can be successful in cope with drug deaths. This includes the wider use of the opioid antidote by police and medical officers on the use of Naloxon and higher expenditures on addiction therapy and rehabilitation programs.
But Scottish Drug ForumA campaign group said that these figures are a very powerful synthetic opioid class that masks a recent fluctuation in the use of nitazins, hundreds of times more powerful than other opioids and opioids used by addicts.
Kirsten Horsburgh, General Manager of the Scottish Drug Forum, said 2024 figures were accepted, while a sharp increase in general drug deaths reported in the first three months of 2025, he said.
The national records of Scottish data showed that there were 76 deaths containing Nitazeses in 2024, a three times higher than 2023. Data from Scotland Public Health, this year in the first quarter of 2025, 38 deaths detected in the nitazen suggested that it could double.
Horsburgh said, “There are still increased damages and an increasing number of deaths. We are not in a situation where we have to do. There is still a lot to do,” he said.
“We are very worried. For us, this sounds like a crisis on a crisis.”
He said they would take part in other deaths. There were different compounds up to 360 classified as Nitazen, which made it much more difficult for the toxicology laboratories to detect them. Drug gangs contributed to the risks of serious death by mixing them into other drugs without users.
Nitazis also play a role in drug deaths in England. It was detected in 179 cases between June 2023 and May 2024. In some cases, multiple species were found; In 17 cases, toxicologists could not fully determine which one was involved.
In 2015, Scottish government ministers fought to combat the death crisis rising after a segment of alcohol and drug treatment financing.
Drugs and Alcohol Policy Minister Maree Todd said that the possibility of death people in non -drug abuse is 12 times more than wealthy regions.
“Since 2017, we have made progress with the lowest number of deaths, but I know it is still a job and we will continue to do everything we can to save and improve lives,” he said.
“This is especially true because we encounter new threats from extremely dangerous synthetic opioids such as Nitazesenes, which further increases the risk of overdose and death.”
Drug Catriona Matheson at the University of Stirling, Specialist Prof Catriona Matheson, said that the figures of 2024 have been reduced by more challenging policy measures.
“Unfortunately [in] In 2025, there is a flow of synthetic opioid and animal sedatives that affect our pharmaceutical supply chain and make it a more dangerous environment. ”
“This emphasizes that we still need more measures to ensure that we have drug control services and secure -controlled drug consumption sites throughout the country.”
