Synthetic opioids up to 500 times more potent than heroin have been detected across most areas of Scotland , an expert has warned. Nitazenes is an umbrella term given to a number of synthetic opioids that are often cut with other opioid substances, such as black market morphine. Speaking at a Scottish Police Authority (SPA) board meeting in Glasgow on Thursday, its director of forensic services, Fiona Douglas, warned the substances are a “specific cause for concern due to their potency”.
Nitazenes vary in strength but the board heard they can be up to 500 times stronger than heroin. She said: “We continue to work with partners, particularly Public Health Scotland (PHS), to provide data to monitor the impact these types of drugs have on the public and communities across the country.” READ MORE: UK's first safe drug consumption room to open in Glasgow in October However she said their prevalence in Scotland remains “very low”.
She cited a recent SPA report which found such opioids were detected in 15 drug-related seizures in 2021, around 0.2% of the total number of cases that were taken for testing during that period. She said: “Across Scotland since June 2022 there have been 64 fatalities where a nitazene has been detected.
“In all of these cases there has been other drugs present, and it has not been confirmed if the nitazenes were implicated in the cause of death or if they were incidental. “To put the 64 cases in context, in the same period, forensic servi.