“I first met my husband when I was sixteen and he was seventeen,” the woman recalled.

“And, within two years, he had got into heroin. He got into it because his brothers were into it.

“He started on heroin, but quickly moved on to whatever he could get his hands on. He would shoplift to fund the habit — him and a mate would get a car and drive round different shops stealing from them.

“Eventually he became so well known for it he had to go out of town to steal, because everyone here knew what he was up to.

“It’s priced differently now, but during the 80s he was spending around £40 a day on heroin, so he had to steal that much stuff each day just to get by.

“A lot of junkies would cut your throat for a £10 bag and I knew guys who’d been knifed over drugs, but my husband never turned ugly like that.

“He was still a good person. It’s just he was into drugs and could never come off them no matter how hard he tried.”

But his addiction to drugs had had a devastating effect physically.

“I found out that, in 1994, when he was in Ninewells Hospital being treated for haemorrhoids — caused by constant drug abuse — he had been diagnosed with HIV.

“He’d never told me he had HIV — not even when I got pregnant or once I’d given birth to my youngest son.

“He continued to lie about his health problems and, around eight months before he died, I found out he also had hepatitis C.

“When I found out, I was so worried about my kids, but luckily it turned out we were all clean.

“Ultimately, he developed full blown Aids in 1996. I nursed him until he died in 2001 aged 39.”

She continued, “My husband contracted HIV because he injected heroin and shared the needles. His two brothers became infected as well and one died of Aids in 1991 when he was 29.

“His other brother had HIV but it never turned into full blown Aids because he died after choking on his own vomit at the age of 25. Five of my husband’s cousins also died of Aids after using dirty needles to inject.”

The loss of her husband had a devastating effect on the family.

“After he died, I developed a drink problem, but I managed to work through it and got a job and started to rebuild my life.

“But drugs have had such a devastating effect on my life and the lives of my kids,” she said.

“My youngest son is obsessed with cleanliness and has serious psychological problems relating to that.

“My middle son has serious behavioural problems that have seen him get in big trouble with the police.

“When I think back, it’s like a bad dream, but the whole experience has probably brought us closer together.

“I’ve never taken heroin myself, but I’ve witnessed the heroin scene in Dundee first hand.

“I would say that around 90% of my friends have used the drug at one time or another and that has spilt over to a new generation because around 70% of my sons’ friends are currently using heroin.

“People know the dangers and they know they are putting everyone else at risk, but they don’t care.

“It’s all right for these politicians to say there is no problem, but they are not living here each day and dealing with it first hand like we are.”