IT is the latest drug to spark alarm, with images of users being turned into ‘living dead’ by a powerful new strain of a synthetic alternative to cannabis hitting the streets.

The drug, known as Spice, is one of a number of new laboratory-created substances which have emerged as a feature of the modern drugs scene, with an increase in potent forms of home-grown cannabis and the use of powerful painkiller drugs in a trend dubbed ‘codeine housewives’ also identified by experts.

Drug-related hospital admissions in Scotland as a result of use of cannabis-type drugs have doubled over the past 30 years, the Sunday Herald can reveal.

And hospital admissions due to opioids – which includes painkilling drugs such as codeine, methadone and morphine as well as heroin – have also nearly doubled over that time.

Harry Shapiro, director of DrugWise, an online drug information service, said some aspects of drugs had stayed the same over the past few decades – such as the problems with heroin addiction, while cannabis and ecstasy remained the most popular recreational drugs.

But he said the type of cannabis being used was now more likely to be home-grown indoors, which can include the potent ‘skunk’ form. He said a rise in people coming forward for treatment for issues related to cannabis could coincide with this trend.

“It is not like you start smoking skunk and then a fortnight later think I had better go and get some help,” he said. “It can take years before someone thinks I need to do something about this – and it would be fairly regular and heavy cannabis use, it wouldn’t be the odd spliff.

“That would tie in with when home-grown cannabis began to take over the market and a small proportion of people would at some point think I need to get some help with this, and that has been reflected in the treatment statistics.”

An increase in cannabis users coming forward for treatment is highlighted in a recent report published by DrugWise, which provides an annual snapshot of trends in UK street drug markets using information from across the country, including Glasgow and Edinburgh.

One drug worker in England said: "Lots of young people coming in for cannabis problems, including addiction, saying its taking over their life, can't do anything."

Another said: "Big rise in cannabis users accessing services that are more usually accessed by opiate users. All for skunk."

The report also notes concerns over the problematic use of prescription or over the counter drugs such as tranquilisers, opiate painkillers and antidepressants.

This includes the existence of Breaking Bad-style DIY laboratories manufacturing drugs such as diazepam – also commonly known as Valium – which is said to be a particular problem in Scotland.

Rising numbers of people using over-the-counter painkillers containing codeine in a bid to reduce the stress of everyday life was also highlighted in the report.

Shapiro said: “We came across drug workers, particularly in the north-east, who were talking about that calling it ‘codeine housewives’ – the mother’s little helper-type idea.

“This is people taking codeine tablets not because they were in pain, but just to get a bit of a light buzz to take the edge off the day. That is a widespread and hardly acknowledged problem really.”

In Scotland, figures point to a trend towards certain types of drugs causing increasing problems i.

In the 1990s, the percentage of drug-related hospital admissions due to cannabinoids [cannabis as the active ingredient] was just over six per cent – that has now has doubled to 13 per cent.

Hospital admissions as a result of use of opioid drugs like heroin, codeine and methadone have also risen, from 31 per cent in the 1990s to 57 per cent in 2014-15.

But there has been a slight drop in the proportion of admissions due to sedative or hypnotic drugs like Valium, while cocaine only rose slightly from just under one per cent to 6.5 per cent.

A trend in recent years has been the emergence of so-called legal highs, also known as new psychoactive substances (NPDs), which were banned under new legislation introduced last year.

David Liddell, chief executive of the Scottish Drugs Forum, pointed out that these were the first drugs to be professionally marketed, with packaging and particular logos.

He said: “This is part of trend to some drug markets being more like the markets for ‘normal products’.

“The other significant change is in importation and supply via the internet and the development of the dark web, where supply can be hidden.”

There are a wide range of legal highs, but Liddell points to synthetic cannabinoids – such as Spice – as being of “significant concern”.

He said these drugs are most likely to be used by vulnerable young people – such as those in prison – and there can be “significant harmful consequences” in their use.

When it comes to the harm that other recreational drugs can cause, he said the picture was not clear.

“It would be useful to have more research in this area to establish whether recreational drug users simply do not experience drug-related harm, or whether services in Scotland need to be doing more to meet new treatment populations,” he said.

“From services that do work in areas such as safer nightlife, we know people can experience significant – all be it temporary harms, if they receive prompt treatment – so it is likely there are a percentage of recreational drug users who would benefit from a different service model to traditional drug services.”

The problem of synthetic cannabinoids is also highlighted by Edinburgh drugs advice charity Crew 2000. Although these drugs have been available for around a decade, chief executive Emma Crawshaw pointed out they were previously little used and resulted in less intense side effects.

Now there are over 200 different synthetic cannabinoids under surveillance by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNDOC).

Crawshaw said: “Effects are more exaggerated and unpredictable than cannabis and people using them can experience an intense but short-lived high, enhanced sensations, feelings of heaviness and nausea as well as anxiety, paranoia, heart palpitations and strong cravings to re-dose.

“People have also reported an increase in severe mental health issues when using these substances including 'detachment from reality', suicidal thoughts and depression.”

Tony Marini, psychotherapist at Castle Craig, a private residential addiction clinic in the Borders, said they had seen an increasing number of patients being admitted due to use of ‘legal highs’.

“We are mainly seeing people under the age of 25 and legal highs are concerning us as you get a lot more paranoid and psychotic episodes - they don’t know what is in these drugs,” he said.

He also believes the type of drugs available now are stronger and more powerful than before.

He added: “Over the last 10 years people have been looking at how can we make this stronger?

“With the internet nowadays, you can find out just about anything you want.”