Fig. 2

Prescribing time series of weak¹ and strong² opioids in Scotland, before and after the publication of SIGN 136 in December 2013 (red dashed line). The solid lines represent the prescribing trend derived from the interrupted time series analysis. ¹Weak opioids are the following and their compounds: codeine, dihydrocodeine, meptazinol and tramadol. ²Strong opioids are the following and their compounds: buprenorphine, diamorphine, dipipanone, fentanyl, hydromorphone, methadone, morphine, oxycodone, papaveretum, pentazocine, pethidine and tapentadol