Widespread abuse of prescription drugs now blights Dundee to such an extent that it rivals heroin addiction.
The scale of the problem has led Health Secretary Shona Robison to call for a new approach to substance abuse in Scotland’s drug-death capital.
The city has long been in the grip of drugs and heavily associated with heroin and opiate abuse.
The number of severe addicts seeking emergency methadone treatment or detox with NHS Tayside has rocketed from about 800 a year to almost 2,400.
The problems caused by heroin and opiate use are now said to be matched and even surpassed by prescription drugs, however.
They formed a significant element of the killer cocktails that claimed the lives of 245 residents in the 10 years from 2003 and are also being heavily linked to the beginnings of addiction in people with no previous history of drug taking.
NHS Tayside substance misuse services lead clinician Dr Brian Kidd told The Courier prescription drug addiction is becoming increasingly prominent.
His comments were echoed by Addaction boss Dave Barrie, who said non-illicit drugs were playing a greater role in drugs issues and drugs deaths.
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