By David Clegg

HEROIN ADDICTS left without access to a fix after recent police action have been turning to contaminated drugs and violence to feed their habit, a leading Dundee drug worker has warned.

Gareth Balmer, project manager of the Addaction Dundee Direct Access, told The Courier Operation Waterloo had an “immediate” impact on heroin supply in the city, causing many users to become “desperate.”

Based on anecdotal evidence provided to the organisation’s network of project workers across the city, he believes some addicts have turned to more dangerous poorer quality heroin.

Others using the Addaction service have reported witnessing increased instances of violence as some turn to crime to finance the hike in prices caused by the scarcity of the drug.

Disappointingly, it appears only a few have used the opportunity to seek help with their addiction.

“What we have seen is a rise in the complications arising from drug use,” Mr Balmer said.

“We have seen people turning to really quite poor quality heroin and coming in with quite nasty abscesses and their arms in a bit of a mess.

“These are people who have had problems sourcing heroin after the raids and turned to less pure stuff.

“Other people have reported seeing more violence—as people get desperate for drugs they are more likely to do violent things to get hold of them.”

Although praising the effectiveness of the police raids in removing heroin from Dundee, Mr Balmer said hitting the supply of the drug did not affect the demand for it on the streets.

“It is a bit of a Catch-22 because when the police are successful the price goes up and this can cause other problems.

“It was definitely a very effective operation when it happened. I have worked in drug services for many years and often you hear of police drug operations and don’t see any impact on the streets.

“But in this case there was almost an immediate impact on supply. It was a very successful operation.”

An anticipated rise in the number of people accessing Addaction’s services did not happen.

He said, “If it is hard to get drugs, people are much more likely to say ‘I need to do something about this now.’ But we didn’t get as many as we thought we might.

“We were waiting for more people to come to us but we only had maybe half a dozen people contact us to access treatment services.

“It seems the majority of people have just bunkered down to suffer through it, which is a shame.”

Mr Balmer was speaking as it emerged drugs worth in excess of £50,000 have been seized from the streets of Dundee since the high- profile police operation began at the start of the month.

Tayside Police also revealed they have seized a substantial sum of cash, which The Courier understands amounts to around £16,000.

During the initial enforcement phase, which began on July 3, around 50 officers were deployed over two days to execute arrest and search warrants at addresses in the Hilltown and Stobswell areas of Dundee.

Since then 27 people have been arrested for alleged drug offences.

Enforcement activity subsequently continued as a more detailed picture of the dealing and abuse of class A drugs in the city emerged.

In the largest single incident, police found drugs with an estimated street value of £40,000 during a raid on an undisclosed address in Dundee.

That haul included £27,000 worth of heroin, cocaine valued at £13,000 and £11,000 in cash.

Suspicions that the reduced availability of heroin may be leading to addicts engaging in greater criminality have been stoked by several people appearing before a sheriff at Dundee in relation to alleged robberies in recent days.

Detective Chief Inspector Willie Semple, head of the CID in Dundee, said there was “no concrete evidence” to link the cases to the scarcity of drugs in the area.

He added that although the amount of heroin on the city’s streets had reduced, it was not yet clear what impact that was having on drug users living in Hilltown and Stobswell.

“We understand there has been a scarcity of heroin since the raids began,” he said.

“There is still some availability, which has been reduced and our efforts continue to target people involved in this activity.”

Addaction Dundee Direct Access, which is located at Unit 6, Nethergate Business Centre, is a support service for people who are addicted to drugs and alcohol.

The service is available from 10am to1pm and 2-5pm Monday to Thursday and on Saturdays from 10am to 3pm.