New forms of a powerful synthetic opioid have contributed to a sharp rise in Scottish drug deaths, with the latest data showing an 11% increase in fatalities last year. According to figures released by National Records of Scotland (NRS), there were 1,133 drug-related deaths in 2025, an increase of 116 from the previous year. This number makes 2025 the sixth highest on record for drug-related deaths in Scotland. Opiates and opioids, which include drugs such as heroin, remain the most deadly drug types, responsible for 78% of all deaths. A particularly concerning trend is the rise in the presence of nitazenes — a highly potent type of synthetic opioid. Their involvement in deaths rose by over 200%, from 76 in 2024 to 247 in 2025. Maree Todd, the minister for mental wellbeing, public health, sport, alcohol, and drugs, noted that an “increasingly toxic and unpredictable drugs supply” requires “more coordinated action across the country.” While last year’s data showed a decrease in drug deaths for the first time since 2017, the charity Scottish Drugs Forum (SDF) warned that this was likely a temporary dip, obscuring a recent surge in synthetic opioids in Scotland’s illicit drug market. Unlike plant-derived drugs such as heroin, nitazenes are produced in illegal laboratories and can be hundreds of times stronger than traditional opiates. They are also often mixed with other substances, increasing the risks for users who may not know what is in the drugs they are taking. SDF’s chief executive, Kirsten Horsburgh, said the increase in drug deaths reflected a range of factors, including an increasingly unpredictable drugs supply. She added that the rise in nitazenes was “a stark indication of [the] changing risks.” Horsburgh emphasized that it is too simplistic to attribute all deaths to the contaminated drug supply or drug use itself. Instead, she pointed out that these deaths are shaped by a much wider set of factors, including poverty, trauma, deprivation, housing insecurity, and mental health inequality. The data also showed that drug-related deaths were 15 times higher in Scotland’s most deprived areas than in the least deprived. There was a 19% rise in deaths among men, with the average age of death being 46. Todd mentioned that the government had funded over 1,100 residential rehabilitation placements last year and expanded access to treatment. However, she acknowledged that despite these efforts and the work of frontline workers, “it is clear we need to do much more to reduce this tragic loss of life.” The new figures confirm that Scotland remains Europe’s “drug deaths capital,” with the worst fatality rate on the continent. In response, the Scottish government announced a new drug-checking service that will allow users to submit drugs for rapid testing and receive harm reduction advice. This service will open early next month in Glasgow’s safer drug consumption facility, with similar services planned for Aberdeen, Dundee, and a fourth in Edinburgh.