Drug deaths in Scotland rose by 23% to a record high last year, with the majority of fatalities in Glasgow.
Official statistics show 867 overdose deaths were recorded in 2016, up by 161 on 2015.
The figure is the largest ever recorded and more than double the 2006 total of 421.
The majority (68%) of drug-related deaths last year were men.
Almost a third (30%) of all those who died were in the Greater Glasgow and Clydehealth board area, followed by Lothian (15%), Lanarkshire (13%) and Ayrshire and Arran (10%).
Almost three-quarters (72%) of drug-related deaths were in the over-35 age group.
Heroin and/or morphine was implicated in or potentially contributed to more deaths than in any previous year at 473 (55%).
Statisticians said Scotland's drug-death rate was higher than in all other EU countries and roughly two-and-a-half times that of the UK as a whole.
Dave Liddell, chief executive of the Scottish Drugs Forum, said the scale of the problem is a "national tragedy that requires a fundamental rethink of our approach".
He said: "Other countries have achieved a reduction in overdose deaths by ensuring that people are appropriately retained in high-quality treatment and we must aspire to do the same."
The Scottish Government said the statistics show an ageing group of drug users are more likely to be affected.
Public Health Minister Aileen Campbell said: "We are dealing with a very complex problem in Scotland - a legacy of drugs misuse stretching back decades.
"What we are seeing is an ageing group of people who are long-term drugs users. They have a pattern of addiction which is very difficult to break, and they have developed other chronic medical conditions as a result of this prolonged drugs use.
"Unfortunately, there is a general trend of increasing drug-related deaths across the UK and in many other parts of Europe.
"There are no easy solutions, but we recognise that more needs to be done."
She said a refresh of the Government's drugs strategy would provide "an opportunity to reinvigorate our approach, to respond to the new challenges emerging and to be more innovative in our response to the problems each individual is facing".
Scottish Liberal Democrat health spokesman Alex Cole-Hamilton MSP said the figures are "shocking".
He said: "The Scottish Government slashed funding to drug and alcohol partnerships by more than 20%. Valuable local facilities have shut their doors. It is even clearer now that this was completely the wrong decision. These services are best placed to intervene and help avoid lives from being lost."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here