Pubdate: Mon, 06 Mar 2006 Source: Herald, The (UK) Copyright: 2006 The Herald Contact: http://www.theherald.co.uk/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/189 Author: Martyn McLaughlin Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/heroin.htm (Heroin) Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?136 (Methadone) CALL FOR DRUGS RETHINK AFTER DEATH OF TODDLER Addiction experts and politicians yesterday called on the Scottish Executive to scrap its policy of prescribing methadone to drug addicts after police confirmed a two-year-old boy had died from drinking the liquid heroin substitute. It is believed Derek Alexander Doran mistook the substance for a soft drink. Police are still trying to establish how the child from the East Lothian village of Elphinstone got hold of the secure bottle. His parents, Lisa Dodds, 25, and Derek Doran, 22, who are methadone users, have been questioned by detectives. Any decision on further action rests with the procurator-fiscal at Haddington. The tragedy happened on December 13 last year. The results of toxicology tests confirming the cause of death were received last week by Lothian and Borders Police. Annabel Goldie, leader of the Scottish Tories, urged the executive to stop "parking" addicts on methadone. She said: "We're living in a country where drug abuse has been allowed to eat away like a cancer at the heart of our society." - --- MAP posted-by: Tom