Pubdate: Thursday October 29, 1998
Source: Guardian, The (UK)
Contact:  http://www.guardian.co.uk/
Copyright: Guardian Media Group 1998
Author: Gerard Seenan

NEW DRUG TEAM FOR SCHOOLS

The Government yesterday moved to calm parental fears in Scotland by setting
up an emergency drugs safety team following an incident in which an
11-year-old boy was found with heroin in a Glasgow school.

Helen Liddell, the Deputy Scottish Secretary, will head the team which will
aim to ensure local authorities, teachers, pupils and parents know how best
to deal with drug incidents in schools.

An 11-year-old boy was found with 50 wraps of heroin with a street value of
UKP500 in his satchel on Monday. It is still not known why the boy took the
drugs, which were tucked inside a gym shoe, to Craigton Primary School,
Govan, or how he came to have them. But there has been a suggestion that he
took them to school unwittingly and that they belonged to a known drug
dealer.

There is no suggestion the boy was dealing drugs in the school, but the
discovery shocked parents. Mrs Liddell said she was taking immediate action
to reassure parents about pupils' safety.

"It is vitally important for parents to know that procedures are in place in
schools to deal effectively with such incidents. This week's incident in
Glasgow appears to have been approached with efficiency and sensitivity by
the school and I commend them for acting swiftly. However, I feel more has
to be done to reassure parents, and that is why I am setting up this team,"
she said.

Government policy is to encourage education authorities and schools to offer
drugs education in schools. In common with all Glasgow primary schools,
pupils at Craigton had regular lessons on the dangers of drugs - including
visits by former addicts.

But there has been criticism in Scotland that agencies funded by the
government are sending out conflicting messages about drugs. Some agencies
preach zero-tolerance to drug use, others offer harm limitation strategies.
The difference has been thought to confuse young people.

The new agency, a collaboration between police and health education
authorities, will help enforce new guidelines issued by HM Inspectors of
Schools yesterday after the Glasgow incident.

Strathclyde's chief constable, John Orr, said that partnership offered the
best chance of tackling Glasgow's drugs problems.

In January, Allan Harper, a 13-year-old from Cranhill, east Glasgow, was
found dead from a heroin overdose. Since then research at Glasgow University
has revealed that one in 10 children in Scotland has taken drugs before the
age of 10. In Scotland, about 400 children in the 11 to 12 age group have
tried heroin.

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Checked-by: Rolf Ernst