The report shows drug-related harms are higher compared to the previous quarter and highlights the serious impact of a rapidly evolving, toxic and unpredictable drug supply.

📊 Our infographics share some of the key figures.

View the full report 🔽
publichealthscotland.scot/publications...

Thank you to the teams, services and individuals that share data, information and insights to help us create this report and inform our response to drug harms.

·      ambulance naloxone incidents: +45%
·      emergency department attendances: +19%
·      suspected drug deaths: +15%

Detections of street benzos decreased to their lowest levels in years, and nitazene detections increased (most notably the highly potent etonitazene).

Read the report: www.publichealthscotland.scot/publications...
Visit the data dashboard: scotland.shinyapps.io/phs-drugs-ra...

7. Service indicators (injecting equipment provision, opioid substitution therapy, treatment) were down on the last quarter (due to seasonal reduction at Christmas) and down compared to the last year.

6. Bromazolam detections dropped again in post-mortem, from a high of 24% of deaths in Q3 2023, to 11% in Q4 2024. Etizolam also continued to reduce, to 2% of deaths in Q4 2024. New benzos continued to appear including clonazolam, gidazepam and ethylbromazolam.

5. Cocaine was the most frequently identified substance in national post-mortem toxicology, the NHS GGC ASSIST project and NHS Lothian Drug Treatment Testing, highlighting its leading role in harms.

4. 221 trend reports were received, with many reporting 'heroin' causing sudden collapse needing multiple naloxone doses to reverse. In Scotland? Order naloxone: www.sfad.org.uk/naloxone

2. Some of the recent harms have been linked to nitazenes: publichealthscotland.scot/news/2025/ma...
3. Nitazene detections continue with etonitazene detected in ASSIST for the first time. Nitazenes have been detected in a total of 132 deaths.