Reports of dirty needles left strewn across Perth and Kinross have more than doubled in the last three years.
Council figures revealed members of the public called the authority’s fast response team to 756 incidents in the last financial year.
In 2012/13 the service attended 580 calls compared to just 303 the year before.
Perth South councillor Alexander Stewart said discarded needles were a “blight on the community” but claimed a proactive approach to collection had led to the rise.
He added: “More needs to be done to eradicate this and education must be a major player in any resolution.
“It is also vital that residents have the confidence to ‘whistle blow’ to the local authority, or even their locally elected representatives.”
A council spokeswoman urged anyone who finds a discarded needle to call the environment service helpline on 01738 476476 or out-of-hours emergency number on 01738 625 411.
The statistics for the region were uncovered as part of The Courier’s three-part investigation into measures to safeguard both drug users and the communities they affect.
Our final report today lifts the lid on how many needle pick-ups have taken place across Courier Country.
Returning to a Tayside street where a 10-year-old was pricked by a discarded syringe just last week, our reporter finds a staggering haul of drugs paraphernalia scattered in bushes used as a “playground”.
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