Scottish Government has repeated warnings on a deadly, super-strength drug that they believe could cause havoc among vulnerable communities.
The warning came as police in Essex, told how synthetic opioid etonitazene is suspected of claiming two lives.
And it was sounded as it emerged that Scottish drug deaths are rising.
The substance can be up to 10 times more deadly than the fentanyl which is ravaging the USA.
After a man and a woman in their 40s died in Basildon, Essex, officers discovered etonitazene - known as pyro - at the scene.
The current advice is that naloxone should work to counteract the effects of nitazene-type drugs.
After the announcement that drug deaths in Scotland were showing signs if rising once more, the Scottish Government repeated its advice on nitazenes, which emerged as a red alert threat in Public Health Scotland’s RADAR information harvesting system last December.
Drugs minister Elena Whitham said: “Following a previous alert on nitazenes, which pose a substantial risk of overdose, hospitalisation and death, we continue to support partners to raise awareness of the risks and to deliver vital harm reduction services, including provision of Naloxone.”
Nitazenes were designed as painkillers 50 years ago but were regarded as too potent and addictive to ever be prescribed.
The pills in Scotland are being churned out to look like Oxycodone, the controversial painkiller that was prescribed to millions of Americans and ultimately led to many becoming heroin and fentanyl overdose victims.
They have already been found in at least six Scottish hotspots.
The Scottish Government said nitazenes are strong synthetic opioids that may appear in the wider drugs supply and be mis-sold as other drugs - including benzodiazepines and other opioids.
Substances present at the time of death will be shown in post-mortem toxicology. The annual, National Statistics on drug misuse deaths will be published by National Records of Scotland in August 2023.
