Concerns have been expressed in Angus over the proliferation of hypodermic needle use among users of so-called “legal highs”.
As well as the increased health risks to users, caused by the injection of untested compounds and the use of larger needles to take the drugs, it is feared their unsafe disposal poses a public hazard.
Eight months ago, residents of Montrose and Arbroath formed groups to inform the public and press and call for a ban on the sale of such drugs.
Their joint steering group has said it is monitoring the evolution of a habit and is troubled by recent developments.
“Arbroath and Montrose Against Legal Highs have been for the last eight months attempting to inform people that just because these substances have been nicknamed legal highs does not mean in any way they are safe,” said spokesman Derek Wann.
“Our message has been picked up locally and we have hopefully helped some people.
“(But) it is even more worrying that people now inject these substances and gives us more cause for concern with the unsafe disposal needles weekly, we hear about needles in public parks and streets.”
The clamour to prevent the sale and distribution of new psychoactive substances (NPS) has intensified after the death of Arbroath man Michael McKay, which his family believes was caused by abuse of legal highs.
Last week, figures from National Records of Scotland showed the number of deaths directly attributed to the substances has rocketed by 140% over the last year from 47 to 113.
A working group was set up in June to look at ways of tackling the sale and supply of NPS. The panel will review the powers available to crack down on the drugs, which have been implicated in dozens of deaths.
It follows a Scottish Government summit on new drugs in April.
North-East Scotland MSP Alex Johnstone said the subject should be dealt with as a matter of priority in Scotland.
He said: “Although the issue of so-called legal highs is causing huge concern in communities across the north-east and beyond, the fact is that the Scottish Government, instead of addressing the problem, have done little more than kick it into the long grass while it focuses on constitutional change.”
A spokesman for the Dundee branch of drugs agency Addaction said legal highs are even more dangerous than those his colleagues are experienced in dealing with.
“People are injecting legal highs as they mimic other drugs but that is extremely dangerous as it carries the risk of infection or overdose or contracting septicaemia or causing blood clots,” he said.