Dundee’s unenviable position as one of the world’s worst cities for drugs deaths was noted by a sheriff as he sentenced a heroin dealer.
Mark Shannon used flats in Lorne Street, a unit in Fairmuir Street and his home on Strathmartine Road to peddle misery among the city’s beleaguered addicts.
He sold class-A substances heroin and cocaine between October 2020 and March 2021.
Shannon, 27, was jailed at Dundee Sheriff Court, after being told by Sheriff Alistair Carmichael there was no alternative for the dealer than a custodial sentence.
He said: “You pleaded guilty to two charges, one for supplying heroin and another on supplying cocaine.
“There has been some passage of time since then and now.
“You did offer a guilty plea in February 2023, just before trial, but you could have offered it at an earlier stage.
“Because of the nature of these crimes I see no option but a custodial sentence.”
Drugs toll on city
Scotland has one of the highest rates of drugs deaths in the developed world, with Dundee regularly top of the table in local breakdowns.
Official records show the number dying has dropped slightly in the last two years but more than 50 people in Dundee perish from drug abuse every year.
Between 2017 and 2021, the city had the highest age-standardised drugs death rate of all local authority areas in Scotland, with 45.2 deaths per 100,000 of the population.
The sheriff told Shannon: “People in Dundee are dying because of heroin.
“To adequately punish you, because of the crime’s nature and to reflect the need to protect the public, there is no alternative but (prison).”
Sheriff Carmichael sentenced Shannon to 27 months for the heroin charge and 18 months for dealing cocaine.
The sentences will run concurrently, meaning Shannon, of Strathmartine Road, will spend 27 months in prison.
Local authorities have produced a “five-year-plan” to try and stem deaths of drug abusers, despite a real-terms cut of £800,000 in treatment services in the city since 2018.
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