Forty years ago in 1984, Scotland experienced the peak of its first heroin crisis. This highly addictive opiate arrived due to political turmoil in the Middle East. The fall of Iran's Shah destabilised the region, flooding Scottish streets with cheap Afghan heroin.
The consequences proved catastrophic. Drug deaths rose, housebreaking crimes soared, and organised crime groups took root — many of which persist today. Authorities initially failed to understand addiction's nature and treated drug misuse purely as a crime problem to be crushed through enforcement. This approach proved disastrous, leading to years of unsuccessful "War Against Drugs" efforts.
Arresting people could never solve the underlying problem. Without addressing demand, supply-side enforcement was doomed to fail. Eventually, effective drug-treatment services were introduced. However, heroin maintained its deadly grip. Other substances — cocaine, street Valium, and others — came and went, but heroin remained constant.
Despite subsequent drug strategies and evidence-based policies, funding fluctuated with political moods. Today, 40 years later, Scotland has Europe's worst drug-death rate, straining health services and filling prisons.
Recent developments bring fresh concern: synthetic heroin, laboratory-produced and far more powerful than traditional opiates, is now present in Scotland. When Taliban rule banned Afghan poppy farming, Chinese laboratories filled the market gap. America's fentanyl epidemic serves as a stark warning.
The solution requires investment in proven treatment services. Following evidence-based practices offers hope for reversing this second wave — if politicians have the courage to act.