An ageing population of problem drug users is being replaced by thousands of younger men and women addicted to Class A drugs.

There are as many as 20,000 problem drug users in Glasgow according to a report.

The study using social work reports, details of admissions to hospital and numbers who are registered with services has estimated there to be 19,399 men and women with a serious addiction to illegal drugs.

More than half around 13,000 are using opioids like heroin and benzodiazepines, like valium and fake street valium known as blues.

Across Scotland it is estimated there are around 95,000 problem users.

When only looking at opiates, like heroin and Benzodiazepines the estimate across Scotland is around 57,000.

The majority are in the age group of 35-64. It is often referred to as the ‘trainspotting generation’ who were using drugs in the early 1990s.

However the statistics show thousands who were not even born at that time and any thought of heroin addiction and drug related deaths being a problem among older drugs users who first took the drug in the 1980s and 1990s can be dispelled by the figures for younger people.

The Scotland wide statistics show that there are almost 15,000 men and women aged 25 to 34 who are problem class A drug users.

Even more worrying is the number of 15 to 24 year olds born between 1996 and 2005 who are categorised as problem drug users.

There are almost 6000 in that age group the vast majority are male with around 1100 females.

The number could be higher as since the study was carried out there has been an explosion in so called ‘street blues’ on the city streets and present in many of the city’s drug deaths.

In Glasgow the overall number of problem opioid and benzos drug users is around 12,800

Cocaine adds another 1000 to the total and cannabis another 6000.

The total represents around one in five of every problem dug user in Scotland is in Glasgow.

Glasgow had the highest number of drug deaths in 2018, the last year for available figures when 290 people died in the city .

Figures for 2019 were due to be released within weeks but have been delayed and are not expected this year as a result of a dispute over laboratory services in Glasgow.

The figure was expected to be far higher and could reach 400 in the city according to anecdotal evidence.