Scotland has the most widespread cocaine use in Europe with almost four per cent of the adult population taking the drug, according to a shocking UN report.
The UN report put Scotland sixth in terms of opiate use worldwide, only behind countries such as Afghanistan and Russia.
Critics said the report shows the Scottish Government’s drugs policy had failed.
Disarray
The UN report showed around 1.5 per cent of Scottish adults inject or smoke opiates, which is almost three times that of the world average.
Ecstasy use in Scotland is recorded at 2.5 per cent of the population, a jump of almost 50 per cent in just six years.
Alistair Ramsay, Chairman of consultancy firm Drugswise, said the Scottish Government’s drugs policy was in “disarray”.
Revision
And Mr Ramsay questioned how Scotland would attract business when it “consistently tops leagues for drug abuse”.
After it was revealed Scotland had topped a separate UN drugs study, The Scottish Daily Mail slammed Scotland’s drugs policy.
“Ultimately, we need a wholesale revision of drugs policy, from police to the judiciary, doctors, social workers and schools, driven by a determination to tackle the problem from the ground up”, it said.
Controversial
The Scottish Government was reported to be moving away from its controversial harm reduction policy in 2008.
Harm reduction does not advocate abstaining completely from drugs but rather seeks to limit their damage.
But later in the year it emerged that Scottish taxpayers’ money being spent on methadone, a heroin substitute, had actually increased.
In March drug users hooked on methadone pleaded with the Westminster Government to help them get off drugs completely instead of just parking them on methadone.
Poison
One former addict, Rosie, told The Times that methadone is “almost more of a poison than heroin, there doesn’t ever seem to be an end to it”.
And Jay, who started smoking heroin before he was 18, said he was given methadone in prison, instead of getting help to become drug-free.