Pubdate: Thu,  1 Jun 2000
Source: Scotsman (UK)
Copyright: The Scotsman Publications Ltd 2000
Contact:  http://www.scotsman.com/
Forum: http://www.scotsman.com/
Author: Tariq Tahir

DRUG ADDICTION 'IS WELL ABOVE' OFFICIAL FIGURE

THE number of hard drug addicts has been severely underestimated and Scots 
children are getting hooked at an earlier age, according to evidence given 
to MSPs yesterday.

One voluntary worker sounded a note of despair by claiming that "the war on 
drugs has been lost".

The Scottish parliament's social inclusion committee heard that the number 
of drug addicts in Glasgow is at least a third more than the official figure.

Billy Fox, the development officer of the Glasgow Association of Family 
Support Groups, which has won high praise from MSPs in the past, said: "The 
scale of the problem is horrendous. This is the worst I've seen it."

He added: "There's younger and younger people that are starting to use 
drugs. When I first went into schools in the late 1980s I didn't think I 
would be addressing problems in primary schools.

"There's a lot of primary school pupils exploring drugs, taking drugs and 
trying to use them."

Mr Fox said he estimated the official figure of 12,500 drug addicts in 
Glasgow was way off the mark, with the true number much higher.

"I would have said that figure five years ago. I think it is a conservative 
estimate. I would put another 6,000 on to that.

"We are also beginning to see more drug deaths. There were 148 last year 
but that's only the ones recorded [as drug deaths]. You have to multiply 
that figure by three."

Mr Fox told MSPs that there should be a different approach to drug-related 
crime to stop the "revolving door" of addicts persistently offending.

"Seventy-five per cent of prisoners are in with drug-related offences. More 
should be done to treat them and it should be looked at as an illness."

He added: "People should be given the opportunity to help themselves and if 
they don't then they are facing a prison situation."

James Harrigan, a volunteer with the association, said that you had to 
multiply by three or four the official figure of 12,500 drug addicts to 
arrive at the number of people directly affected by addicts' behaviour. 
"The drugs war has been lost. We're now dealing with the survivors - the 
refugees," he told MSPs.

Mr Harrigan said the attitude of society to drug addicts needed to change.

"If you look at the word 'junkie' in the dictionary it is something that 
you discard. How would you like it if your son or daughter was thrown into 
a skip?"

The committee also heard from Alastair Ramsay, head of Scotland Against 
Drugs, who defended his organisation against accusations that it was out of 
touch.

"I want to dispel the myth that Scotland Against Drugs is about 'just say 
no'. The drug scene has evolved and the Scotland Against Drugs of today is 
different to the one that was set up," he said.

Mr Ramsay was asked by the committee convener, Margaret Curran, the Labour 
MSP for Ballieston, how long Scotland Against Drugs was going to last. He 
replied: "There are at the moment no commitments made beyond 2001."
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