Fears over rural drugs use

Heroin misuse is on the increase in rural communities

A burgeoning drugs problem in rural communities across Scotland is being blamed on cuts to the Customs and Excise service.

Alastair Carmichael, the MP for Orkney and Shetland, said the Highlands had become an easy point of access for drug smugglers.

Heroin seizures in the area have increased by more than 300%.

Drug smuggling has increased in Scotland

However, the trade union which represents customs officers said years of cutbacks have made the Scottish coastline an easy target for international drugs smugglers.

Speaking on BBC Radio Scotland's Good Morning Scotland programme, Mr Carmichael said: "We have a growing heroin problem here in Shetland.

"It is a vulnerable community and we have large number of our young people who have a reasonable disposable income with a lot of free time on their hands.

"So you can see it is going to be fertile ground for drugs to take hold.

"I do know there is a drugs problem in Shetland that simply was not there five or 10 years ago and it is something that is causing a great deal of concern in the local community."

'Soft spot'

He said the support and health services were having to come to terms with the problem very quickly.

"If these people (drug smugglers) see that there is a soft spot in terms of our protection against drugs imports then these people are clever enough to cordon on to that and use it," the MP added.

The Public and Commercial Services Union (PCSU) said a cut in the number of custom officers was offering drug smugglers the ideal opportunity to venture north of the border.

Drug misuse

Bill Johnston of the PCSU said about 500 jobs had been shed within the industry and this meant the fight against drugs smuggling had been weakened.

"We used to be known as the preventative service, that is not the case now," he said.

"Basically we used to have a network of people round the coast but that network does not exist anymore."

The UK Government was not doing enough to protect Scotland against drugs, he said.

Last year, the Scottish Executive announced that around 56,000 people in Scotland misuse drugs such as heroin, temazepam and cocaine.