A cocktail of illegal substances is being found in the victims of Tayside’s drug-related death epidemic.
There have been 15 suspected drugs-related deaths in Tayside this year and Assistant Chief Constable Angela Wilson said toxicology results indicate the tragedies are not just down to one drug.
She said: ”It’s obviously a huge concern because it is a tragic waste of human life. It’s really difficult because many of these people take more than one substance and it is very difficult to say which took their life at the end.
”We have to wait for toxicology but what we are starting to see is a mixture of substances. Some are prescribed, some obtained illegally. Heroin carries a risk of death or overdose and that increases when other drugs or alcohol are involved.”
A Drugs-Related Death group runs in Tayside, with specialists from bodies including the health service, the police, the council and other partner agencies meeting to discuss what can be done to bring the number down.
ACC Wilson said ”a lot” was going on to help those with drug problems and that officers were coming down hard on dealers to try to cut off the supply.
”The NHS has an important part to play and it does that,” she said. ”We are dealing with the dealers. We have had operations like Matterhorn which was targeted at street level and you can regularly see when we deal at a higher level of serious and organised crime.
”It’s a highly complex issue. If there was an easy answer we would have been doing it years ago.
”The public are fantastic and if the public give us information we will act upon it, with Operation Matterhorn being a prime example of that.”
ACC Wilson added: ”Many drug users have been using for years and their bodies are wasted. In some cases it’s just a matter of time to see which injection causes an overdose.”