Pubdate: Sun, 08 Apr 2001 Source: Observer, The (UK) Website: http://www.newsunlimited.co.uk/observer/ Address: 119 Farringdon Road, London EC1R 3ER, United Kingdom Email: 2001 The Observer Fax: 0171 713 4250/4286 Author: Stephen Khan, Scotland Editor Note: Article is number 3 in Guardian Newspapers Limited ongoing special report series entitled "Drugs In Britain" as published in The Observer MOTHERS MARCH TO CLEAN UP NEEDLE CITY Politicians, Pop Stars And Celebrities Join Crusade Calling For Ruthless Action To Beat The Scourge Of Drugs The missing members of a generation peered from placards held aloft in a packed city park. Those left behind stood silent, clutching images of their loved ones and listening for answers. Politicians, pop stars and celebrities all took their turn to attack the scourge of a nation and welcome a new approach to tackling it. In Latin America the Disappeared were lost to dictators. In Glasgow they are lost to drugs. Last Sunday 15,000 people marched through the city and called for the dealers to be swept from the streets. It was the climax of a campaign run by Scotland's biggest-selling tabloid newspaper against the drugs epidemic, which asked ordinary people to 'deal with it' directly. Despite having suffered a stroke at the end of last year, Mary McLelland was determined to be there. The 59-year-old former nurse lost her son Christopher three years ago. He had injected himself with heroin. 'I was pretty tired on Monday but really pleased I'd made it,' she said. 'I felt a strong bond between many people who had not even met before. 'I felt a determination to do something. This feeling was represented by the placards bearing the names and faces of our loved ones. All the photographs tell the story of an individual family tragedy.' Greater Glasgow Health Board estimates that there may be as many as 10,000 injecting drug users in the city. What the marchers are calling for is expressed in the Daily Record's charter against drugs, which demands government action to clamp down on dealers and rehabilitate users. 'We must unite as a community to stop children becoming addicted in the first place,' added McLelland. The charter wants to see dealers' assets seized by the Inland Revenue and police and judges empowered to take all cars used in drug deals. If drugs are sold from a council property, the tenants should be evicted and banned from having a council home again, it says. Much of the inspiration has come from the action group Mothers Against Drugs (MAD). Many of those involved in the group took to the streets last weekend, including founding member Gaille McCann, who spoke at a rally. MAD was launched following the death of her neighbour, 13-year-old Allan Harper, in January 1998, and the group held a candlelight vigil throughout the Cranhill area where the boy lived. The next step was to report any signs of drug dealing to the police and it is this strategy that has been championed in recent weeks. McCann said: 'The success of Sunday's rally is that it has brought recognition to the role of locals. It has given local people's fight against drugs credibility.' She added: 'This is all about making people responsible for themselves and their communities. We have called for the confiscation of dealers' assets and this must be something that the Scottish Parliament now recognises.' McCann is often scathing of politicians - whatever party they come from - but to say the event was politically star-studded is an understatement. Chancellor Gordon Brown was joined by Scottish Secretary Helen Liddell and Scotland's First Minister Henry McLeish. SNP leader John Swinney was among the speakers. Yet less than a mile to the west, along the river Clyde, one of the Holyrood Parliament's most famous members was addressing a very different gathering. Perhaps only 200 people crammed into a small club to listen to Tommy Sheridan, of the Scottish Socialist Party, but their passion was as tangible as that of the thousands up river. Having led anti-poll tax and anti-Trident campaigns Sheridan is no stranger to controversy, and he wants to see a dramatically different approach - the legalisation of cannabis. He believes that this would break the link between the substance and hard drugs, cutting the dealers out of the equation. Sheridan, who does not drink, smoke or take drugs, believes heroin should be available to addicts on prescription, as in Switzerland, Holland and Germany. 'Break the link, take away the crime,' he says. The legalise cannabis meeting enraged the Daily Record which has launched a series of scathing attacks on Sheridan culminating in its description of him as a 'low life' who had crawled out from under a stone. Peter Cox, the paper's editor, toasted the march's success last week. 'The police estimate 15,000 marched, with another 3,000 to 5,000 elsewhere. There hasn't been a demonstration in Glasgow that has attracted 20,000 people since the anti-Thatcher marches of the 1980s. 'Ordinary families suffering the same hardship were brought together. It was heartwarming to see.' But he had harsh words for Sheridan, a man he considers to be an opportunist out for publicity. 'I can't believe that an unelected MSP, and I say he is unelected because he is drawn from a national list and does not represent a constituency, can draw so much attention from the main issue. I've got no time for him at all.' Supporters of Sheridan say the Record's campaign is little more than a circulation drive, a claim Cox vehemently denies. They argue that the traditionally Labour-supporting newspaper is aiming its venom at their man because he threatens to take votes from the party at the general election. Now the mothers' campaign looks set to expand. Gaille McCann has received calls of support from women around the UK who want to start up their own action groups. Mary McLelland, meanwhile, reminds people of the massive human scar that drugs have left on this city and on her life. 'We must break the shame barrier - so many parents of victims hide their feelings,' she said. 'I am not ashamed of my son. He tried to beat heroin addiction.' She hopes the mothers' action will mean that one day no more young people will join the ranks of Glasgow's Disappeared.