Drug addict total shoots up to 6000

ALMOST 6000 drug addicts are being treated by support services in the Capital following a massive influx of cocaine and crack.

Around half of those battling addiction have children at home who are at risk of abuse and neglect.

Heroin remains the biggest problem in Edinburgh, but cocaine and its derivative crack are being blamed for a dramatic rise in the numbers seeking help.

Support workers are also being faced with more heroin addicts bingeing on the drug. The plentiful supply in the Capital has led to dealers offering discounts to addicts who buy in bulk.

In just two years, the number of people accessing services provided by Edinburgh Drug and Alcohol Action Team has risen by a fifth, from 5000 to 6000.

The amount of drugs seized by police has also soared but has failed to stem the tide.

Today, Tom Wood, chairman of the action team, warned he expected the fallout to get worse for years to come. He said: "I think there are a lot more people using (drugs). A report by the Scottish Government showed that a third of people in Scotland have tried illegal drugs. There's an enormous amount of people using drugs in Edinburgh and in Scotland.

"Heroin is still our main problem drug because of what it does and the number of people taking it. But its usage has levelled off in Edinburgh. Psycho stimulants, and in particular cocaine, are on the rise."

He warned growing numbers of children in Edinburgh were likely to face abuse and neglect because of their parents' drug abuse.

He said: "One of the problems we've got right now is people who started taking drugs in the 1980s and 1990s are now the parental generation. In many parts of the city half the people who access our service also have child-protection issues, in some parts it's even more. The real problem is what's going to happen in the future. I foresee a growth in child-protection cases in the next ten years."

Usage among established heroin addicts is being driven up by cheaper heroin deals, according to Edinburgh-based drug advice and support agency Crew 2000.

Street dealers still sell 100mg and 200mg deals for £10 and £20 as they have done for years, but it is now easier to get larger deals more cheaply, such as £60 for 1750mg. Addicts buying larger amounts often fail to regulate the amount they take and end up using more.

John Arthur, of Crew 2000, said: "It's more available now. Often, although not always, if people buy more, they use more. We advise them to regulate what they take."

Staff at the Cockburn Street-based agency regularly visit nightclubs and talk to drug users. They say problems with benzodiazepines and prescription drugs, such as Valium, used to counter the highs of cocaine or the lows of heroin, are also common.

Assistant Chief Constable Neil Richardson, chairman of the Edinburgh Child Protection Committee, said: "We've had massive increases in drug seizures this year, twice as much heroin as in 2003 and 12 times as much as much prescription drugs."

Police and education chiefs both blamed drug abuse for the spiralling demands for child protection, which a damning HMIE report yesterday revealed city care services are failing to cope with.

Councillor Marilyne MacLaren, the city's education leader, said: "There is a drug culture embedded in this city - it's not going away and it's not getting better, it's getting worse."

'They are people the council dumped here'

RESIDENTS in Leith's Fort House have witnessed the blight of heroin first hand, with up to 30 of its 157 flats estimated to be occupied by users.

Gaunt and chalk-faced, the addicts are easily picked out by their neighbours, who have become depressingly familiar with the effects of the drug.

They say that the worst days of the city's heroin epidemic in the 1980s have never been repeated on the estate.

But some residents claim that the problem has worsened in the last few years, with a new wave of users being moved in to the complex.

A mother-of-three, who has lived in the Fort since it was built 41 years ago, said: "The problem was worse 20-odd years ago. That was when you would see used needles lying in the stairwells.

"Sometimes you would even come down the stairs and find a group of them shooting up together.

"It was worrying when you were trying to raise three kids. You don't get that any more, but the number of users has gone up in the last few years.

"I blame the council for moving them in here. These are not kids from the estate. They are people the council has dumped here.

"It's mostly people between 25 and 35, I would say. It's mostly men, but some women too, and some of them have kids. I would bet there's flats here with ten or so addicts sharing a flat, just shooting up together.

"It's not the younger kids who use it, they just drink and maybe smoke a bit of hash. They cause trouble with vandalism and stealing cars, but they are not the ones using heroin."

As she speaks, she points out a trio of young men as "junkies", their baseball caps pulled over their eyes and each holding a can of lager.

She added: "You see the junkies walking through the estate, but they mostly stay inside their flats. You might see them come out to the shops, all skinny with white faces.

"There used to be a white workies' van which would turn up and the junkies would go down to get their stuff. I've not seen that for a while though."

A father-of-two, who has lived in the Fort for more than ten years, said: "I can't say they cause much bother, but it's not nice to be around it.

"You don't want your kids exposed to that. There's been times where ambulances have turned up because of overdoses and such like. It makes for a pretty bleak environment sometimes.

"But it's not the people who have lived here for years. You get families that have stayed in the Fort all their lives. It's folk you don't recognise who suddenly appear."