TV report on city’s drug problem was terrifying viewing

EVERY city has its problem with drugs — we all know that.

But a Channel 4 News feature highlighting Dundee’s plight was terrifying.

The award-winning show followed two homeless drug users in the city centre and spoke to the mothers of two addicts who had lost their lives.

It was a story that could have been filmed in any city — and many towns — in the UK, but scratch the surface and Dundee’s dark side becomes more sinister.

Just halfway through February and the programme claimed 12 people had already died this year due to overdoses — which means 2018’s death toll is already on course to be worse than in recent years.

Along with the unenviable titles, such as Scotland’s capital for teenage and underage pregnancies, tragically these statistics reaffirm the city’s tag as the capital of drug deaths in Scotland.

The programme highlighted a news story covered by the Tele — that fake Valium has been linked to a number of deaths in a short period in Dundee last year.

But what is clear is that there is no one drug or reason for our crisis.

So what do we do? Do we wring our hands and tar every user with the same lost-cause brush?

Or do we continue pretending methadone as a replacement is the answer — when the percentage of addicts to get clean from a programme is lamentable; when it costs the government untold millions and only serves to form another lifelong habit?

Addicts need help — but what kind of help is the issue.

To my mind — and I know from your emails many of you disagree — a safely observed medical programme which takes users off drugs entirely has a much higher success rate.

But at the core of helping to tackle the problem is prevention. We must catch in a safety net as many Dundonians as we can before they ever use.

The vulnerable, neglected and abused are more likely to turn to the escape that mind-numbing drugs offer. These people need protection and there are organisations to help such as the police and social workers — but also us.

The neighbour who fears a child is severely neglected, the mum with drug or alcohol issues who is too addled to focus on what her boyfriend might be doing to her child in secret, the teacher who knows a pupil has behavioural issues because of problems at home. We all must open our eyes. The buck stops at us — to figure out a solution to a current drug problem, given our city’s plight seems to be worsening, and to prevent the future generation from falling into the same trap.