An Irvine dad was left furious after his five-year-old son found a “one hit kit” syringe pack outside The Portal.

The man, who asked not to be named, had taken his children, age three, five and eight, swimming and was was walking home when his young son picked up the needle pack.

Luckily the “One Hit Kit” was opened but unused, but had been dumped in East Road, at the side of the leisure centre, by a mindless drug user.

The angry dad said: “We were just walking home after being in The Portal and my wee boy actually ran over it. I took it off him and couldn’t believe what I was seeing. These things actually have a slogan, a ‘one-hit Kit’. Then below that is says “Keep rotating your veins to keep them going for longer”. It’s madness. They have big warnings on cigarette packs about how smoking kills, but here we are giving drug users advice on how to inject more safely.

“I understand it might be to stop them using dirty needles and getting infected but whoever had this pack obviously isn’t bothered and just dumped it in the street for a child to find.”

A spokeswoman for NHS Ayrshire and Arran said: “A ‘One Hit Kit’ is a pre-packaged kit of injecting equipment designed to provide all the sterile, single use, materials required for a single injecting episode. These are given to injecting drug users.

“Within Ayrshire and Arran, all Injecting Equipment Provision sites can provide One Hit Kits – for example, pharmacies and specialist NHS services. Each of these sites will also provide suitable storage containers for disposing of used injecting equipment and will accept returned equipment for safe disposal. The electronic recording system which is used to monitor the injecting equipment services allows identification of individuals who are recorded as not returning equipment, and this allows staff to challenge disposal practices.

“NHS Ayrshire and Arran would like to remind members of the public, particularly children, not to touch or pick up discarded needles or injecting equipment. If you find discarded injecting equipment anywhere in North Ayrshire please contact North Ayrshire Council’s Environment and Related Services Department (Streetscene) immediately on 01294 310 000 and they will arrange disposal.