Drug-check facility roll-out needed to tackle rise of opioid overdoses, say campaigners

Daily Record

20-07-2025

Rising numbers of drug deaths and overdoses are being linked to lab-made synthetic opioids like fentanyl - up to 50 times stronger than heroin.
Facilities to test whether street drugs are laced with deadly synthetic opioids should be available in every community in Scotland, campaigners have urged.
‌
It comes as rising numbers of drug deaths and overdoses are being linked to lab-made drugs like fentanyl - up to 50 times stronger than heroin.
‌
The opioids are so strong they can cause drug users to overdose instantly.
‌
Drug-checking services (DCS) at sites in Glasgow, Aberdeen and Dundee have been proposed since last summer as part of a pilot scheme.
However, the plans - which would allow drug users to test what's in their drugs - have been in limbo for more than a year as the Home Office is yet to approve them. A bid was also submitted for Edinburgh this year.
‌
Kirsten Horsburgh, CEO of the Scottish Drugs Forum, said: "The fact it has taken so long is, frankly, outrageous.
"We say we have a public health emergency, a crisis around drug deaths, yet we can't even provide these services to people.
"It's very frustrating and ultimately, delays in these sorts of things cost lives.
‌
"We need to stop tinkering around the edges. If we are serious about making significant change, we need to make significant investment and have fewer of these small-scale pilots and more full-scale rollouts for things that we know work and make sense."
Horsburgh said Scotland should learn from countries like New Zealand, where a massive and mobile roll-out of DCS everywhere from street corners to festivals has helped reduce harm from drugs and encouraged users to be safer.
Glasgow is home to the UK's first legal safe drug consumption facility, the Thistle, which opened in January in a bid to save lives.
‌
Scotland is the worst nation in Europe for drug deaths. There were 308 such deaths from January to March, up by 33 per cent on the last three months of 2024.
Data had showed a decrease in the number of suspected deaths over the year. There were 1053 suspected drug deaths in the 12 months to March 2025, meaning 166 (14 per cent) fewer such deaths than in the 12 months to March 2024, when the total was 1219.
It's understood the recent rise follows reports of dealers flooding the streets with new breeds of heroin laced with fentanyl and other lethal 'nitazenes', also known as synthetic opioids – with the potential to compound Scotland's drug deaths epidemic.
‌
The presence of nitazenes in street narcotics is known to drastically raise the risk of fatal overdose - and in some cases, can cause instantaneous collapse.
Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Alex Cole Hamilton said: 'When 100 people a month are dying in Scotland's drug deaths emergency, missed targets and patchwork care isn't good enough.
'If ministers are serious about delivering, they need to properly support services and staff, roll out a network of safe consumption rooms and introduce new drug-checking facilities.
‌
"Drug checking services allow people to make informed decisions about what they are taking and reduce the risk of accidentally overdosing.
'That's especially important when we are seeing a rise in dangerous synthetic opioids, which can be 50 times as strong as heroin and are often disguised as other drugs."
‌
Hosburgh said: "Normally there would be a slower onset of an overdose.
"But what people have been reporting more frequently in a number of areas across the country is people using the drug and overdosing immediately, which is quite unusual.
"That would indicate a more powerful, potent substance within what people are using and quite often that is determined to be a nitazene."
‌
Andy Paterson, of the student-led Help Not Harm campaign which wants to see DCS available for every community in Scotland, said: 'These things come down to political will. If we wanted to set these services up, it would be quite doable.'
Join the Daily Record WhatsApp community!
Get the latest news sent straight to your messages by joining our WhatsApp community today.
You'll receive daily updates on breaking news as well as the top headlines across Scotland.
No one will be able to see who is signed up and no one can send messages except the Daily Record team.
All you have to do is click here if you're on mobile, select 'Join Community' and you're in!
If you're on a desktop, simply scan the QR code above with your phone and click 'Join Community'.
We also treat our community members to special offers, promotions, and adverts from us and our partners. If you don't like our community, you can check out any time you like.
To leave our community click on the name at the top of your screen and choose 'exit group'.
If you're curious, you can read our Privacy Notice.
Drugs Policy Minister Maree Todd said: 'We are determined to continue our efforts to reduce drug-related harm and save lives. Through our National Mission on drugs we are taking a range of action, including the provision of new drug checking facilities.
'We continue to work at pace with partners to deliver these facilities across all our pilot cities as soon as possible.'
The Home Office, which is understood to have inspected the proposed pilot sites in Dundee and Aberdeen last year, was approached for comment.