Pubdate: Tue, 09 Aug 2005
Source: BBC News (UK Web)
Copyright: 2005 BBC
Website: http://news.bbc.co.uk/

ROW OVER PRISONER DRUG ADDICTION

About a third of Scotland's prisoners are using drugs at the time of their 
release from jail, it has emerged. The Scottish National Party said the 
figures showed the need for the Scottish Executive to do more to tackle 
drug addiction.

The statistics were revealed by Justice Minister Cathy Jamieson in a reply 
to a parliamentary question.

The Scottish Prison Service (SPS) has defended the work it does to tackle 
the problem of drugs in prison.

SPS chief executive Tony Cameron, who provided the minister with the 
figures, pointed out that four out of five prisoners tested positive for 
drug misuse when they arrived in jail.

He said SPS random testing of drug use in prison indicated that less than 
20% tested positive, but liberation testing in December 2004 suggested that 
about 30% were drug users on release.

'Not Equipped'

The question was asked by SNP backbencher Stewart Stevenson.

SNP justice spokesman Kenny MacAskill said the figures "clearly show that 
prisons are not best equipped to treat the problem of drug addiction".

He added that rehabilitation, rather than prison, was needed in cases where 
petty offending was caused by a drugs problem.

"We need to address the root of the problem in these cases, which is the 
drug addiction itself and not the petty crime," said Mr MacAskill.

A spokeswoman for the Scottish Executive said the prison service had a 
range of projects to deal with prisoners who are addicted when arriving in 
jail but added that the high level of addiction reflected a problem for 
society as a whole.

She said: "There is no suggestion that drugs are tolerated in prison - far 
from it."

A spokeswoman for the SPS added: "We take the issue of drugs very seriously.

"Out of every five prisoners arriving at our doors, four are testing 
positive for some sort of drug misuse.

"That goes down to 30% on release, and that means we are tackling 50%.

"It is an improvement, but having said that we do take it very seriously 
and we intend to get it down even further."
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