Source: Scotsman (UK) Pubdate: Thu, 23 Jul 1998 Contact: http://www.scotsman.com/ Authors: Tracey Lawson and Graeme Stewart DRUGS WAR DEALT BLOW AS DEATHS MOUNT UP Clamour for action after 19-year-old becomes one more chilling statistic The government's drugs strategy was dealt a severe blow yesterday when a 19-year-old man became the 51st person this year to die from an overdose equaling the total number to have died from drug abuse in the region last year. Brian Gibb, described by his family as a former heroin and methadone user, was found dead in his home in Renfield Street, Renfrew, on Tuesday night. It is understood that Mr Gibb had taken a combination of 2OOmg of the heroin substitute methadone and 28 Valium tablets. Opposition politicians joined his family in calling for ministers to rethink their drugs strategy in the light of the death toll. Mr Gibb's uncle, Robert Adam, said last night: "If it was drugs that killed Brian, I just hope some good can come out of his death in that the authorities will sit up and take note of how many young people are dying, because there are so few resources and so few facilities to help them. The situation is getting worse, not better, and addicts have so few people to turn to." The increase in drugs deaths this year follows earlier dramatic drops in fatalities. Strathclyde Police records show that 102 people died as a result of drugs in 1995. That fell to 84 in 1996, and in 1997 there were 51 deaths. But in the first six weeks of 1998 alone, 11 people had died from drug abuse, compared with 11 deaths in the fist six months of last year. Police believe that a major factor in the rising number of drugs deaths this year is the increased availability of "super-pure" heroin. They suspect that a growing trend among users to smoke the drug, rather than run what they perceive as higher risks associated with injecting, has increased demand for heroin. There are widely differing views on how to attack the drugs problem. The Conservative government set up the Scotland Against Drugs agency to mount high-profile anti-drugs campaigns. But Labour recently halved the agency's budget, reorganised its ruling committee and made it plain that it expected SAD to move away from big-budget campaigning, and towards raising money for harm-prevention drugs agencies on the ground. Henry McLeish, the Scottish home affairs minister, was strongly criticised by the Mothers Against Drugs group in Cranhill, where a 13-year-old boy became Scotland's youngest heroin overdose victim recently. The organisation claimed that the Government had abandoned communities to drugs dealers. But earlier this week, Mr McLeish stressed that drugs were a menace to every part of society, and announced more money to fight the problem. Last night, Mr McLeish said that the latest death was a "stark and chilling reminder" of the drugs menace and said that more needs to be done to combat the problem. "Over the coming weeks and months, the Government will be stepping up its war against drugs in Scotand. We have to do that in partnership with the police and other organisations. "Make no mistake, the figures from Strathclyde are alarming relative to last year's statistics. But the key is that it confronts society with what is now the major menace in Scotland today. "We are well aware - and very concerned - about the increase in drugs abuse in Scotland and its well-established links with crime. It is a major concern and a major priority for the Government." Roseanna Cunningham, the home affairs spokeswoman for the Scottish National Party, said: "The drugs epidemic in Glasgow is dangerously out of control and community efforts and Government efforts now have to be directed towards a strategy that saves people's lives at the point of crisis as well as discouraging drug abuse." Jim Wallace, the leader of the Scottish Liberal Democrats, said: "Each of these deaths is a personal tragedy. Let's not pretend there are simple solutions to this. It will require a considerable community effort and a range of different approaches to begin reversing this trend. "The key is twofold - to drive out the dealers but also to reach out with appropriate help to those who are caught up in the spiral of drug abuse." Paul Cullen QC, the Scottish Conservative Party's home affairs spokesman, said: "This is an absolutely appalling statistic. This Governiment has been in office for 15 months now and still have not come up with a strategy for tackling what has clearly become a worsening problem." David Macauley, the director of Scotland Against Drugs, said there were more heroin users than ever in Scotland in general and Greater Glasgow in particular. He said: "I have heard that there is a kilo and a half of pure heroin on the streets in Glasgow. Interestingly, in 1982-83 the average heroin seized was 7 per cent pure. It is now anywhere between 60 and 70 per cent pure. "From a pharmaceutical perspective that means that in the early 1980s the only way to get a high was to inject but now because of the high levels of purity you are able to go for other routes of administration, to put it clinically. "So you can smoke it, rub it around your month or snort it like cocaine. A 14-year-old girl in Aberdeen told me that the coolest and chicest thing you could do was to snort heroin... All the evidence is that users are getting younger and younger and use is increasing. - --- Checked-by: "Rich O'Grady"