Right now we have a massive problem with synthetic drugs, these go by various names, such as Meow, Spice, Scooby and others.
Trust me, since you retired Nemo this is the problem. These are very cheap, not difficult to come by and devastating.
Its not a case of having quiet drugged up cons who follow the rules, these particular drugs just do not work like that.
These things are causing immense problems, we haven’t got a direct test for them - well not without maybe buying mass spectrum analysers and training the staff, all of which is massively expensive - we are talking huge sums here, along with long lead times to bring staff up to the required skill levels to interpret the results definitively.
The prisoners seem to be deliberately overdosing, much more so than on the street, and then relying on prison staff to handle the subsequent medical issues.
Its a far bigger problem than opiates, and that was bad enough with the violence and debt that resulted.
What we need is effective testing, the effort in strangling supply has intensified by levels not seen before, we really have tightened up so much - but it only takes a tiny amount to get through, its that powerful.
We are in a position where we will probably emulate some other nations, which no longer have lists of chemicals that are prohibited, instead all psychoactive substances are outlawed unless specifically approved.
Like all these things, there are some other factors that have coincided with this rise in the abuse of this family of substances, however I will leave readers to explore that for themselves and develop their own views, commenting on those other matters might be seen to taking a position on policies upon which I am not competent to advise.