Blue plague that has been ruin of communities

THE DAILY Record first began reporting on the emergence of "street valium" in 2016 - when tell-tale blue dye used in the crudely produced pills became a common sight in housing schemes.

- MARK MCGIVERN

It was the front end of a street benzo eruption that has been the ruin of Scottish communities.

We told of a cluster of deaths of six friends in Toryglen, Glasgow - in ex-first minister Nicola Sturgeon's constituency.

My phone was soon abuzz with similar tales of people dying after taking the street "blues" - in places like Dundee, Renfrew and Paisley.

I'd never heard of etizolam but Police Scotland intelligence had established that the new pills were using this super-strength compound to keep ahead of the law and to maximise profit.