Pubdate: Fri, 14 May 1999 Source: Scotsman (UK) Copyright: The Scotsman Publications Ltd 1999 Contact: http://www.scotsman.com/ Forum: http://www.scotsman.com/ Author: Stephen Rafferty, Crime correspondent CALL FOR PUPIL DRUG AMNESTY Top Policeman Says Young Dealers And Loan-Shark Victims Need Help To Beat Their Problems A senior police officer yesterday called for a national amnesty for schoolchildren who are dealing in drugs or find themselves the victims of peddlers and loan sharks. Chief Superintendent Stewart Davidson called for the radical action in an attempt to curb the growing influence of dealers in Scottish schools and to free pupils from their grip. Mr Davidson said there was increasing evidence that children as young as 12 were too frightened to go to school because they owe money to pushers. He called for the setting up of an intermediate agency and a phone helpline to enable youngsters to shake off the menace of dealers. Mr Davidson, who is the president of the Association of Scottish Police Superintendents (ASPS) told its annual conference in Peebles yesterday that urgent action was needed to fight the drugs problem in school playgrounds. He said: "We are becoming increasingly concerned about the number of young people - some as young as 12 - who are in hock or frighteningly in debt to dealers. "Evidence is emerging that some of these children are so terrified of violence and other types of retribution from the evil dealers that they are too frightened to go to school for fear of being met at the school gates, and indeed playgrounds, by these dealers. "Other young people have run away from home in fear of their lives. They are too terrified to confide in their parents. They are worried that if they turn to a member of staff they may be expelled and they feel alienated from the police because they fear prosecution." Mr Davidson said some children owe four-figure sums to dealers and are forced into a life of crime to repay the debt. "Young people trapped in this web of drugs need help to find a way out and so the association proposes an amnesty for children caught in this vicious spiral. This would guarantee immunity from prosecution and help smash the insidious fear that pervades many young lives. "We would also like to see an intermediate agency set up - a helpline perhaps - which would give them a lifeline to turn to when the dealers and loan sharks descend. "We are sure that an amnesty would work, as long as we are determined to make life better for the young people who shape tomorrow's society. It would break the chain of terror for many and release them from the shackles of the drugs culture." However, the proposals were met with a mixed response from educationalists and drugs agency workers. David Eaglesham, the general secretary of the Scottish Secondary Teachers Association, said: "The idea of some kind of intermediary organisation is an excellent one. If kids have these difficulties they are not just going to nip along to their guidance teacher because they quite rightly would be afraid of the consequences. "The conspiracy of silence in schools is a very dangerous thing. Bullying is one that is very often covered by this. There are structures in schools which do the best they can but there is no guarantee kids will use those structures and something like a hotline, which has a sort of street-cred, might be more acceptable. "The idea of a formal amnesty is more problematic in that, what would it cover and how would it be operated? An amnesty can be a very effective way of dealing with things and we would be interested to hear more detailed proposals." But Tino Ferri, of the National Association of Schoolmasters and Union of Women Teachers, doubted an amnesty would help solve the problem. He said: "I am a great believer that the softly-softly approach is all very well but the people who indulge in that approach usually end up getting kicked in the teeth. "If these kids are terrified of coming forward at the moment I don't see how giving them an amnesty is going to make them declare themselves. I don't see how that is going to alleviate the problem these kids have, if they have got themselves in to debt with the dealers. "The helpline might be something we could look at but they should be concentrating on the people who are supplying, the people who are hovering around schools targeting the kids. "If a helpline is set up and it makes a contribution to helping wean these kids off drugs, fine. I am all in favour of doing something to alleviate the problems but I don't see how a general amnesty is going to work." Mike Cadger, the project manager of Crew 2000, an Edinburgh-based drugs harm-reduction agency said that a lot of young people make a postive choice to experiment with particular substances but that is not to say they are not in any difficulties or will not face difficulties. He added: "The reality of the experience of most young people is that they and most of their mates can take drugs in some kind of social setting without any real problem other than the threat of being criminalised. We would welcome any steps which help young people from becoming criminalised and stigmatised and as a result having a negative or adverse effect on their future prospects. "We certainly don't want young people who may be in serious trouble, in terms of dependency or getting into debt as a result of a drug habit, from going any further down that route and welcome any solutions that are offered that can help avoid that situation but we don't think one agency, working in isolation from anything else that is going on, is the answer." Children as young as eight are turning to drugs to alleviate the stress of modern living, according to a Crew 2000-commissioned survey published yesterday. Children said that the stresses and strains of being a young person in the 1990s meant that drugs were sometimes the only way to relax. They claimed that using drugs was an issue of choice and personal responsibility and that it was not realistic to simply tell people that drugs were bad for them. The survey, carried out between last November and January, said that from the 222 people questioned, 85 per cent were given drugs by their friends. Statistics also showed that 58 per cent mixed drugs and alcohol with 26 per cent sometimes drove while on drugs. - --- MAP posted-by: Jo-D