Question reference: S6W-18736
- Asked by: Sue Webber, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
- Date lodged: 7 June 2023
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Current status: Answered by Elena Whitham on 19 June 2023
Question
To ask the Scottish Government whether it has begun, or plans to begin, any testing for the drug, xylazine, in light of the first death from the drug having been reported in the UK in May 2023.
Answer
The Scottish Government is aware of this drug, to date there have been two detections in Scotland that we have been made aware of through the Welsh WEDINOS programme.
Public Health Scotland, through their Rapid Action Drug Alerts and Response (RADAR) programme, are continuing to monitor this situation. Currently xylazine is not routinely screened for in police or post-mortem toxicology throughout the UK, but we will keep this under review and future decisions around adding this to toxicology screening in Scotland would be made by the RADAR pathology and toxicology network.
The Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD, the UK Government’s drug advisory body) New Psychoactive Substance committee are also monitoring the availability of this substance and are conducting an evidence review which will also inform action in Scotland. Public Health Scotland continue to lead on the ongoing development of RADAR which provides essential and real-time data on drug trends and harms to ensure a quick response to what is happening on the ground, including providing vital public health alerts, such as they issued around nitazenes in January 2023.