One in ten Scots was recently offered heroin, cocaine, LSD, ecstasy or crack

Published on Tuesday 26 January 2010 21:50

ONE in ten Scots was offered class A drugs – including heroin, cocaine, ecstasy, LSD and crack – in the past year, while the vast majority of drug users believe it is "easy" to buy illegal substances, official figures reveal.

Amid an overall fall in the consumption of drugs in Scotland, a survey of nearly 11,000 people found a quarter of Scots had taken drugs at some point in their lives and 7.6 per cent had used them in the previous year.

One in seven said they had been offered drugs in the previous year and 9.4 per cent said someone had offered to give or sell them class A substances.

Cocaine was used by 3.7 per cent of adults between 16 and 59, the same level as the last available study in 2006, despite the efforts of UK and Scottish governments to cut public consumption.

At the same time, the overall use of drugs in Scotland dropped by 2 per cent, helped by a dramatic fall in cannabis use that saw 8.4 per cent of adults take it in the previous year compared to 11 per cent in 2006. Use of amphetamines, ecstasy and LSD all fell from levels seen in 2006, and there was a dip in people taking magic mushrooms and valium not prescribed by a doctor.

Use of drugs was found to be slightly lower in Scotland than elsewhere in the UK, but despite the downward trend, drug users said getting access to illegal substances was not difficult, with 87 per cent admitting it was "easy" to buy drugs, and half (48.6 per cent) saying it was "very easy".

Drug use was also found to be more prevalent among young people, with 23 per cent of 16-24 year-olds admitting they had taken an illegal substance in the previous year.

Part of the Scottish Crime and Justice Survey, a continuous study of the perception and experience of crime in Scotland, the results were drawn from face-to-face interviews with 10,947 Scots living in private accommodation.

Drug use in hostels, prisons and student halls was not measured, a limitation the researchers admit does not allow them to monitor some chaotic users.

The study's authors also conceded survey respondents under-report drug use, leading to warnings Scotland's drug problem should not be underestimated. Scottish Crime and Drug Enforcement Agency boss Gordon Meldrum said drugs remained a "major problem" for Scotland: "Heroin is still killing people every week and there are threats from stronger strains of cannabis, cocaine, and so-called 'legal highs'," he warned.

Labour's justice spokesman Richard Baker said the Scottish Government was making no progress in tackling cocaine abuse: "The fact that frequent drug users are finding it easier than ever to get their hands on drugs is extremely concerning," he said.

The Conservatives' John Lamont said: "The fact drug users find it so easy to get their fix shows just how much more there is to do."

And the LibDems' Robert Brown warned: "Whilst overall drug use is going down slightly, the ongoing levels of use for dangerous 'party drugs' like cocaine remains a problem."

Community safety minister Fergus Ewing gave a cautious welcome to the figures, adding: "This is just a small step in the right direction and there is still a long battle ahead."

Have you tried semeron? (Main side-effect is over-exaggeration)

AT FIRST glance it seems as though drug addicts have found a new fix – a mysterious new substance called "semeron" that sits alongside cocaine, heroin and crystal meth on a list of illicit drugs taken in Scotland.

Things, however, are not quite what they seem. Despite sounding plausible enough, semeron is a fictitious drug, invented by researchers to weed out drug users who may be a little economical with the truth.

The organisers of the British Crime and Justice Survey believe that some respondents to their questions deliberately talk-up their drug intake out of bravado, or simply because they cannot remember the actual amount of drugs they have consumed.

To counter such claims and stop the overall results being skewed by over-reporting of drug consumption, they deliberately ask respondents if they have taken semeron.

Any positives immediately identify the person as unreliable and their entire testimony is disregarded. During the latest survey 12 people said they had taken semeron and their results were thrown out.

In previous drugs surveys, researchers have used a fictitious drug called "bliss" as a lie detector, echoing the spoof substance called "cake" that Channel 4 satire show Brass Eye used to dupe celebrities such as Phil Collins and Noel Edmonds into appearing in comedy anti– drug adverts.