Calls have been made for drug consumption rooms to be introduced in a bid to tackle rising drug litter.

Figures obtained through a Freedom of Information request from Wrexham Council show the county has seen a 139 per cent increase in call-outs for the removal of drug-related litter between 2011-12 and 2016-17.

The number has more than doubled, from 59 in 2011-12 to 141 last year.

Bosses from drug policy thinktank Volteface say these figures will also be an underestimate as not all drug-related litter is reported to the council.

Items includes needles and syringes which have been discarded in public settings such as parks, playing fields, public toilets, footpaths and car parks.

They say it means that people in the community are at a greater risk of needlestick injuries, which could transfer infectious diseases such as HIV and Hepatitis C.

An increase in this litter indicates that Wrexham has seen a rise in street injecting, which has been proven to increase the likelihood of people who use drugs catching these diseases and experiencing other injecting-related complications, such as abscesses, wounds and deep vein thrombosis.

To improve public amenity and the health of people who use drugs, Volteface is urging Wrexham to give serious consideration to introducing a drug consumption room.

Drug consumption rooms are professionally supervised healthcare facilities where people can consume drugs in safer conditions.

A drug room would provide sterile injecting equipment, counselling services before, during and after consumption, emergency care in the event of overdose and basic medical care and referral to appropriate social, healthcare and addiction treatment services.

A spokesman said: “Robust evidence demonstrates that drug consumption rooms are effective in reducing street injecting, the number of syringes discarded in a vicinity, drug-related deaths and needle-sharing, as well as increasing uptake in people receiving drug treatment.

“Evidence shows that drug consumption rooms do not increase drug use, frequency of injecting, drug-dealing, drug trafficking or drug-related crime in the surrounding environment.

“The Advisory Council for the Misuse of Drugs, which provides guidance to the UK Government, has recommended that drug consumption rooms should be introduced to reduce drug-related deaths and other harms.

“The main concern with drug consumption rooms are their legality. Volteface’s report ‘Back Yard’, identifies the laws which would apply in Wrexham.

“However, these legal barriers can be overcome if a pilot was allowed to operate under police discretion.

“There is flexibility within the law for the police to take a reasonable approach to law enforcement, exercising discretion in the public interest.

“Pilots operating on a discretionary legal basis could then be used to build the case for legislative change.

“Wrexham must consider drug consumption rooms if it is serious about taking public injecting and discarded needles off the streets.”

North Wales police and crime commissioner Arfon Jones, said: “I fully support Volteface’s call for drug consumption rooms.

“There is ample evidence to show that they work, they reduce litter, and anti-social behaviour, they reduce fear and provide reassurance to the public and more importantly they provide a safe environment and harm reduction to the user.

“Drug consumption rooms are a natural progression from providing needless and clean equipment which has been an accepted form of harm reduction for decades.”

Wrexham Council declined to comment.