Cons smuggle heroin substitute inside cards
A power ful heroin substitute popular with celebrity addicts is flooding Scotland’s prisons.
Hundreds of cons are taking smuggled Subutex pills which are worth up to £15 each in some of the country’s toughest jails.
A survey of prisoner drug habits last monthth found only cannabis was more popular among inmates.
The problem is so widespread that many offenders are returning to civilian life addicted to Subutex.
It was used by Amy Winehouse and Libertines frontman Pete Doherty as they rerecovered from hero heroin addiction.
It was a l so found in the home of Hollywood actor Philip Seymour Hoffman after he died from a heroin overdose two years ago.
A crackdown has been launched after inmates were caught using greetings cards made in prison workshops to smuggle Subutex, the brand name for buprenorphine.
They were sending out the cards to family members and friends who posted them back, concealing crushed Subutex pills wrapped in cigarette papers.
The tablets, dubbed “subbies”, can be cut into three lines which are sold for up to £5 each.
One former inmate said: “It seemed like everyone in Barlinnie was on Subutex.”
Terry Scott tested positive for the drug last year in Edinburgh’s Saughton prison.He controlled much of the heroin supply in the north of the city and was jailed in 2014 for drug dealing.
The Scottish Prisoners Survey last month revealed 43 per cent of prisoners admitted taking drugs in jail.
The Scottish Prison Service said: “A comprehensive range of robust security measures are in place to prevent the introduction of contraband into our prisons.”