A DOCUMENTARY which follows a group of US opioid addicts rehabilitated using an electrical brain therapy first invented by a Scottish surgeon in the 1970s has been bought by streaming giant Amazon Prime.

Bafta- and Emmy-award winning Scots director Norman Stone said that it was ironic that his ‘Final Fix’ feature was becoming available at a time when the US opioid epidemic had been overshadowed, but actually made worse, by another public health crisis: Covid-19.

“It makes a horrible kind of sense, doesn’t it? ,” he said. “If anyone didn’t pity the poor addicts before this then they should now because these were people in many cases who were never going to be addicts.

"They just took the drugs prescribed for their pain problems in the way they were told.

“In one of the states in America the police were told by the authorities not to do anything if addicts were overdosing - not to use Narcan [also known as naloxone] to revive them.

"It’s the only thing that will bring them back, but they were told ‘you mustn’t do that in case they cough on you’. That beggars belief for me.”

READ MORE: How a Scots surgeon's brain therapy invention is bringing hope to addicts in US opioid epidemic 

Emergency overdose calls have reportedly increased in a number of US states in recent weeks, but there was controversy when a police department in Indiana suspended the use of naloxone and told its officers to stay six feet from an unconscious overdose victim until paramedics arrived.

Addicts are more likely to have chronic health problems which make them more vulnerable to Covid-19, as well as mental health issues exacerbated by social isolation.

An increase in potentially dangerous home detox attempts, both in the US and Scotland, is also being reported during the pandemic.

Mr Stone spent two years making ‘The Final Fix’ with Glasgow-based1A Productions. The documentary, which launches on Amazone Prime on May 8, follows four opioid addicts in Kentucky given neuro-electric therapy (N.E.T).

Invented by the late Scottish surgeon Dr Meg Patterson after her experiences with opium addicts at a charity hospital in Hong Kong, the technique uses electrodes to send low-voltage electrical pulses into the brain. It has been hailed as a miracle cure by rock stars including Eric Clapton and Keith Richard, who both credited it with their recovery from addiction.

The film's participants are seen going 'cold turkey' without any apparent withdrawal effects or cravings.

"Those guys who came off, you watched them sort of re-inflate and become shiny human beings again, useful members of society again, in five to seven days," said Mr Stone.

"It’s 18 months since we filmed that and they’re all still doing brilliantly."

READ MORE: Scottish university in talks to trial controversial electrical brain 'cure' for addiction

Dr Patterson, who died in a Lesmahagow care home in 2002, tried in vain to have her invention taken seriously by the medical establishments in her lifetime. However, record drug deaths in Scotland and the explosion in addiction to pharmaceutical and synthetic opioids in the US has spurred scinetific interest in N.E.T.

Clinical trials, delayed by Covid, are on track to begin before the end of the year in the US.

Plans for a multi-site, university-led clinical trial in Scotland are on hold, however, as a result of the coronavirus outbreak.

Owen Fielding, the Scotland-based director of clinical services for NET, said: "We’re still tentatively having those conversations, but the message we’re receiving from our stakeholders is ‘wait until we’ve finished responding to Covid and by all means we’ll pick up the discussions."