The deadly new drugs reshaping Scotland's fight against addiction

Efforts to bring down Scotland's sky-high rate of drug deaths are being frustrated by the arrival of hundreds of powerful new synthetic substances that experts warn are making the deadly drugs crisis even more dangerous.

In the past three years, there has been an explosion in the supply of new synthetic cannabinoids and opioids, transforming the illicit drugs trade and increasing the risk of fatal overdoses.

Annual figures to be released on Wednesday are expected to show a rise in the number of drug-related deaths in Scotland, which already has an unenviable record as the drugs death capital of Europe.

"The illicit drug supply in Scotland is getting more and more dangerous," said Dr Lorna Nisbet of Dundee University's Leverhulme Research Centre for Forensic Science.

Unlike heroin or cocaine, which are derived from cultivated plants, many of the new substances are manufactured in clandestine laboratories.

They include synthetic opioids such as nitazenes and orphines, some of which are hundreds of times more potent than heroin.

Police say organised crime groups are increasingly mixing the substances with existing drugs to maximise their profits.

"I think it's shameful behaviour that we're seeing from these organised crime groups," Supt Niven Bull, of Police Scotland, said.

On average, a new psychoactive substance emerged every week in 2025, according to the European Union Drugs Agency (EUDA). , external

The agency says tighter controls imposed by China and the Taliban's ban on poppy cultivation in Afghanistan have pushed production closer to consumer markets.

That includes Scotland, where police have raided two suspected nitazene factories in the past 14 months, making five arrests in total.

In July 2025, officers discovered an alleged illicit drugs laboratory in Patna, Ayrshire, leading to the arrest of three people.

Deputy Chief Constable Jane Connors later described it as the UK's first suspected nitazene laboratory.

BBC News can also reveal that two men, aged 43 and 56, were arrested in February this year after police searched a unit in Loanhead, Midlothian, as part of an investigation into another suspected synthetic opioid lab.