SCOTLAND, United Kingdom – 15 August 2017: In a report published by the National Records of Scotland on “Drug-related deaths in Scotland in 2016”, new psychoactive substances (NPS) were found to have been implicated in, or potentially contributed to, the cause of death in 286 cases out of a total of 867 drug-related deaths in 2016. Furthermore, NPS belonging to the benzodiazepine class were found to be the only NPS present in 277 of the cases related to NPS use and thereby accounted for the majority of NPS related deaths reported in Scotland in 2016. Most cases involving NPS belonging to the benzodiazepine class were related to etizolam, with a few relating to diclazepam or phenazepam. In eight of the cases involving other types of NPS, substances such as MXP or PMMA were involved.

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Report of the National Records of Scotland on “Drug-related deaths in Scotland in 2016” – https://www.nrscotland.gov.uk/files//statistics/drug-related-deaths/drd2016/16-drug-rel-deaths.pdf