The anthrax link to heroin first came to light in mid-December since then there have been 25 confirmed cases and a total of 10 deaths across Scotland.

Three cases, two fatal, have been reported in Tayside, while in Fife there have been a further two confirmed cases and a single fatality.

Mr Balmer said there was widespread awareness within the drug-using community of the anthrax outbreak and the potential it brought for harm.

He said unprecedented numbers of addicts had been coming forward seeking advice and for the first time in the project’s history all available consultation appointments had been booked out.

Mr Balmer said the outbreak was extremely serious but had led to some positive action among injecting drug users.

“We have seen an upsurge in people attending our service in the past two weeks,” he said today.

“In the past fortnight we have been the busiest we have ever been — for the first time in three years our appointments are fully booked.

“Whether that has been directly down to the anthrax (heroin scare) we don’t know, but it is certainly making a difference.”

He went on, “One person entering treatment is one person on the way to recovery.

“Whatever gets them here — whatever makes people make that change —is progress. Things like this can be a catalyst for people to think, ‘I need to do something about this now’.

“Over the past couple of weeks we have seen over 40 people for treatment. That is 40 people who have made the difficult decision to go and get help.

“Walking through our front door is a frightening thing to do in a way, as you are admitting you have a problem. Having to disclose that to a worker is difficult for people.

“Nobody wants to admit they have got a problem but over the past couple of weeks we have had more than 40 people asking for help.”

Mr Balmer said swift access to treatment services was key to ensuring people made a clean break from their drug lifestyle once they had taken the first steps.

He said waiting times for treatment had improved greatly across Tayside, but said immediate access to methadone and other services was required when people were being told to stop their drug usage immediately.

“The official advice we have been asked to give injecting drug users is to stop using heroin,” Mr Balmer said.

“That is actually impossible for most users without medical help, as it is a physical dependence on the drug.

“The frontline treatment for heroin users is a medical treatment dealt with by the NHS.

“We have been working really closely with them to get waiting lists down to a reasonable level.

“That has been successful and the kind of waiting times you are generally looking at now is less than three months compared to 18 months a couple of years ago.

“Things are heading in the right direction but when it is a public health emergency like the anthrax exposure scare then I believe there should be immediate access to treatment services.”