Drug-driving is so prevalent that police forensic services are sending tests to private labs to prevent a backlog.
A report prepared for watchdogs at the Scottish Police Authority (SPA) told how demand for “drug-driving analysis remains significantly higher” than forensics teams have capacity for.
With cases at the “elevated level”, the Scottish government approved additional funding in November, which will allow “around 900 cases to be outsourced”.
Fiona Duncan, the director of SPA Forensic Services, said: “There continues to be a significant challenge with regards to high levels of demand for Section 5A drug-driving toxicology analysis, which has remained high since the introduction of the legislation in Scotland in 2019.”
Duncan said the service, together with Police Scotland and the Crown Office, was working on
