The putrid smell of urine hits your nostrils as you approach New Wynd in Glasgow‘s Trongate and as frantic shoppers carry their bags along bustling Argyle Street, in the cobbled lane just a footstep away, two drug users scuttle away into the shadows.
The historical street, which houses Glasgow’s oldest music hall The Britannia Panopticon, is on Glasgow’s tourist trail but only those who dare will walk unaccompanied along its graffiti walled path after sunset.
Even in plain daylight, the ground lies scattered with the remnants of their latest hit, bags of crystallised white powder, drug paraphernalia and empty packets issued by local pharmacies, with plastic nib tops of syringes laying nearby.
There’s also human faeces and urine-soaked walls where those with no dignity have given in to the urgency of addiction.
It’s just one of the no-go areas in the city where locals have got all too used to ‘junkies’ shooting up, urinating and defecating just a stone’s throw away from the busy commuter path.
Further into the east end, up past the Barrowlands, as well as across the water along to Govanhill on the south side of the city the picture is the same, pathways littered with needles and the pallor of vacant-looking drug users while Inverclyde and Dundee see a similar scenario.
Scotland has been named the drug death capital of Europe for the seventh year in a row and although the number of fatalities have fallen to their lowest levels in eight years and dropped by 13 per cent compared to 2023, Scotland’s drug death rate – which is 191 per one million people – remains the worst in Europe.
There were 1,017 drug misuse deaths in Scotland last year, new figures from the National Records of Scotland have shown.
Stewart Smith, 67, (pictured) says he regularly sees drug use in the open outside the shops and bars in Govanhill as well as Glasgow centre
Pictured: The Trongate area of Glasgow in the city centre is notorious for drugs use
Scotland has been named the drug death capital of Europe for the seventh year in a row. Pictured: The Trongate area of Glasgow
In Glasgow, which boasts the first legal ‘shooting gallery’ – the £2.3million Thistle centre for drug addicts to take heroin and cocaine under medical supervision, free from the threat of arrest, locals are all too aware of the misery it causes.
Stewart Smith from the South side of the city says he regularly sees drug use in the open outside the shops and bars in Govanhill as well as Glasgow centre. It’s a sight that is all too common.
The pensioner said: ‘I don’t know what it is they are taking but there’s a lot of drugs outside the bars in Govanhill and they are all smoking something.
‘If you look about Glasgow Saltmarket too, the amount of people with one leg or in wheelchairs that you see who have lost their limbs because of infection is bad. It is embarrassing that Scotland still has the highest figures.
‘The government should be doing more and it’s about education early on. I think it’s good we’re moving in the right direction but it’s not enough.
‘The rooms where they shoot up is quite a good thing because it’s somewhere safe medically but we need to look into it more. Maybe it’s the cost of the drugs that has made figures go down this year? Who knows?’
Scotland’s most deprived areas were 12 times more likely to experience drug deaths than the richer parts of the country, the figures also showed.
According to Glasgow east ender Carol Bruce, 62, the new findings of a decrease in deaths may be down to different types of drugs being consumed this year.
Carol Bruce, 62, said the new findings of a decrease in deaths may be down to different types of drugs being consumed this year
Pictured: The Morrisons car park in the Calton area of Glasgow which has been used for drug taking
The UK’s first official consumption room for illegal drugs including heroin opened in Glasgow
All too aware of the issues around her, Carol who lives just minutes away from the drugs consumption room in the Calton, and is used to drug users injecting in local parklands, explained: ‘I think street valium is the biggest killer. I know there is the centre nearby but they can’t wait until they get there to take it.
‘Depending on where they get it from they are not going to wait till they get to the centre to take it. They are that desperate. We talk about it, my friends and I.
‘I’m not sure why the number of deaths has dropped this year but I think a lot of people now take cocaine rather than heroin and that, and are actually snorting it as in crack cocaine.
‘I know loads of people have changed from heroin to crack cocaine so that might be why there’s less drugs deaths at the moment. There was a bad batch going about but it still remains a big problem and the waiting time for rehab is impossible too.
‘We see them hitting up around us but we managed to get rid of them for now.’
Neighbour Paul Collins, 46, added: ‘If anything I’ve noticed an increase in the amount of people who are using now that the consumption place is round the corner, but it was put there for their benefit.
‘I’m hoping that will distract them from sticking a needle in their leg round the streets especially cause I’ve got a 12-year-old. I think it’s a good thing. You are never going to stop them doing it cause they have an addiction.
‘They need to have a safe place to go. It’s countrywide this problem, not just citywide.’
He added: ‘There’s a lot of meetings about it just now. I think there’s not enough places like the charity Calton Athletic Recovery Group, to help them get off it.’
He continued: ‘The methadone programme is an absolute joke. I’ve never heard of a single person who’s benefitted from it.
Pictured: A car park 100 metres from the new Thistle Centre that has been used for drug taking
Glasgow east end cafe worker Carter Davis, 27, from Fife said drugs and alcohol abuse are still rife in the community and that something needs to be done
Pictured: Inside the Thistle Centre in Glasgow that opened earlier this year
‘You get put on it 20 years ago and you are still on it today. It’s sad. You see grannies and grandads all that going into the chemist to get it. The big pharmaceutical companies make billions but they should be using the resources for other things, other than that, or alongside that on a higher scale.
‘They should put all these millions into these community groups like Calton Athletic instead. The amount of people I know who have been helped by that group over the years is incredible.’
Glasgow east end cafe worker Carter Davis, 27, from Fife said drugs and alcohol abuse are still rife in the community and that something needs to be done.
He said: ‘I can’t think of any particular reason why there’s less fatalities this year. I know that there has been the safe consumption unit opened in Glasgow. I don’t know how well used they are.
‘I would probably assume alcohol deaths are rising. If drug deaths are going down, alcohol deaths are going up.
‘I don’t think they’ve ever went down in the past four or five years. If I was to guess, a lot of it seems still to be unrecorded, underreported, I imagine as well. A 13 per cent decrease in one year seems too good to be true for what we see.
‘To me, I’ve not seen a 13 per cent difference in the kind of activity in the East end. It’s probably one of the worst areas in Glasgow. No one has anything else.
‘There are no alternatives. I know decriminalisation has helped in a lot of places like Portugal. That’s been a pretty big thing in the last couple of years.
‘I just feel like there’s more options for addicts rather than… it feels like there’s a lot of fines are put in place for homelessness around here. It just doesn’t feel like there’s anywhere for people to go.
The notorious New Wynd lane in Glasgow city centre, close to Trongate, is rife with drug taking
Calton resident Carol Bruce, 62, said she sees regular drug taking in the area
Drug taking is so rife in this Morrisons Car Park in the Calton area of Glasgow that barriers have now been put up to stop addicts shooting up
‘You’ve got your safe consumption room but I don’t think they’re properly being used. I don’t know how well run they are. I don’t know how well funded they are, but it seems to me the main issues in Scotland are alcohol deaths.
‘Well, that’s where the government’s used to take all their policy to. There’s never really anything put in place to deal with it. Minimum unit pricing came in but alcohol deaths have risen every year since. Nothing is changing.
‘I reckon the drug deaths is almost definitely a deflection of what’s going on… Whether it’s drugs, whether it’s alcohol, people turn to something for addiction. It’s sad. It’s tragic. I think 13 per cent, if it is true, is a good start.’
And a local Taxi driver who wished to be unnamed also echoed that he thought Scotland’s methadone programme is just another way of delaying the inevitable.
He said: ‘The consumption room might have helped decrease numbers but I don’t know. I don’t know. It’s really hard to get it down cause the people have to want to get it down themselves.
‘They’ll probably say if it can cut one death it’s a success. You normally get them around about here in the city but I’ve not seen as many recently. You can’t believe anything the government say because they’ll manipulate the figures to suit themselves.
‘The addict, maybe you’ll get in the odd one that will come to the other side, but most of them don’t. That’s the reality. You know, they’ll go back on it again. And it’ll eventually kill them. Because there’s nothing else in their life.
‘That’s what matters them. The methadone just kind of keeps them topped up till they get the real stuff. It’s a kid on.
‘The only one’s benefitting out of that is the pharmacy. They make a fortune. People’s lives are that that dreadful that’s the route they go down. I think people are better educated in Europe.’
Scotland has been named the drug death capital of Europe for the seventh year in a row
Pictured: The notorious New Wynd lane in Glasgow city centre, close to Trongate, which is rife with drug taking
He also added that it was time to help people who grew up in Scotland rather than use funds for migrants.
He protested: ‘ Let’s face it. Britain doesn’t helped their own people. They’re too busy helping other people. They’re helping everybody else but don’t look after our own. We feel sorry for everyone else, but we need to look at home first.
‘We don’t look after Joe Bloggs in the street struggling away with a disability who can’t get any money. That’s what enrages people. That’s why we get all these protests, asylum seekers and all that, because we don’t help or own people. We’re too busy helping other people, doing the right thing.
‘Too many people are here and they’re getting everything and that that’s the bottom line.’
Catriona Matheson, Professor in Substance Use, from Stirling University said of the latest findings which show a decline in drug deaths in Scotland following last year’s 12 per cent rise that saw deaths climb to 1,172.
She said: ‘It’s very welcome that there has been a reduction in drug-related deaths in 2024 and this shows that some of the measures that were prompted by the Drug Deaths Taskforce are starting to have an impact.
‘But there is a long way to go because there are still too many people dying from a preventable cause.
‘I do want to give credit to all those who are working in the frontline services delivering these vital interventions and support to people, so those who are in drug treatment, in harm reduction and overdose response teams, police, ambulance.
‘It’s the efforts that they have been putting in placed that are really starting to have an impact. We do know, unfortunately, that for 2025 there has already been an influx of synthetic opioids and animal tranquilisers which are affecting our drug supply chain and making it an even more hazardous environment.
Chippy worker Carter Davis, 27, spoke about the latest drug figures out yesterday in Scotland
There were 1,017 drug misuse deaths in Scotland last year, new figures from the National Records of Scotland have shown
‘So unfortunately there is a long way to go and this highlights that we really do need further actions still on making sure we have drug checking services and safe supervised drug consumption sites across the country.’
Scottish Conservative shadow drugs minister Annie Wells however hit out and said: ‘These devastating figures lay bare the tragic human toll of Scotland’s drugs emergency which has spiralled out of control on the SNP’s watch.
‘It’s heartbreaking and intolerable that so many lives continue to be lost, and so many families left bereft, because Scotland has the highest drugs death rate in Europe. And it’s shameful that, as ever with this Nationalist government, those living in the poorest areas are worst affected.
‘SNP ministers have repeatedly taken their eye off the ball, and still have no coherent and credible strategy for tackling this national crisis.
‘Despite pinning all their hopes on drugs consumption rooms being the solution, the fatality rate so far in 2025 – since The Thistle opened – is up once again.
‘Instead of state-sponsored drug-taking, the focus should be on treatment and rehab. John Swinney must stop the dithering and finally back the Scottish Conservatives’ Right to Recovery Bill, which will guarantee every Scot the right to receive potentially life-saving treatment.’
Commenting on the latest stats which also show the next highest rate was Estonia with 135 deaths per million people in 2023, Scottish Labour health spokesperson Jackie Baillie MSP said: ‘Every life lost to drugs is a tragedy and each has a devastating impact on families and communities across the country.
The Trongate area of Glasgow in the city centre is notorious for drugs use including small lanes used by addicts to inject
There were 1,017 drug misuse deaths in Scotland last year, new figures from the National Records of Scotland have shown
‘While it is welcome that there has been progress made towards reducing the number of fatalities, there are still far too many lives being needlessly cut short.
‘Scotland’s drug emergency is claiming far too many lives and more must be done to not only save lives but ensure that people can get the recovery support that they need.
‘The SNP government must also work with Police Scotland, local authorities and health boards to ensure that those making money out of this misery are held to account, while their victims have the best possible chance of recovery.’
And Justina Murray, CEO of Scottish Families said: ‘Our families are being crushed by the weight of expectation that they can keep their loved ones alive amidst Scotland’s ongoing drug deaths crisis.
‘They are already doing everything within their gift, and more, to Love and Protect their loved ones. From learning about the signs of overdose and how to respond, to practical and financial support including taking their loved ones to appointments and championing their rights, families’ expertise and commitment to harm reduction is clear.
‘But they cannot possibly be expected to take responsibility for reversing Scotland’s drug deaths crisis. We need to see other part of the system play their part, and demonstrate some return on investment for the significant funds which have come from the National Drugs Mission.
‘We already know what works to prevent and reduce drug deaths – from welcoming and high-quality treatment and care services to community-based drug testing and drug checking.
‘We have committed to all of this in our policies and strategies. Now we need to make it happen.’
