Pubdate: Sat, 31 Oct 1998
Source: Guardian, The (UK)
Copyright: Guardian Media Group 1998
Contact:  http://www.guardian.co.uk/
Author: Gerard Seenan

BOY, 7, TOOK HEROIN WORTH UKP100 TO SCHOOL TO STOP MOTHER TAKING DRUG

A boy aged seven has been found with heroin at a Scottish primary
school. The news comes just a few days after an 11-year-old was found
with 50 wraps of the drug in his satchel at a Glasgow school.

Keith Helawell, the drugs tsar, yesterday said urgent action was
needed to stop isolated cases like these - where the boys came into
contact with drugs through their families - becoming a trend.

"The reality is when parents, brothers and sisters or friends of the
family use drugs, younger and younger children are exposed to them,"
Mr Helawell said.

The seven-year-old took the heroin, which had a street value of
UKP100, to Borestone Primary School, Stirling, because he was worried
about his mother and wanted to stop her using the drug.

The school immediately contacted social services, the police and
education authorities. The police confirmed the drug was heroin and
said a woman, aged 26, had been reported to the Procurator Fiscal in
connection with the incident. The boy is still a pupil at the primary
school, following the incident on October 2, and the head teacher has
written to all of the parents informing them about the situation.

Gaille McCann, who founded Mothers Against Drugs after the death in
Glasgow this January of 13-year-old Allan Harper from a heroin
overdose, said the Stirling case illustrated how innocent people were
being hurt by heroin. "Is there ever a better picture of lost
innocence than a seven-year-old kid giving their mother's drugs to a
teacher? I am so worried that children who are being brought up with
this exposure to drugs are going to end up on drugs themselves," Ms
McCann said.

On Monday afternoon an 11-year-old boy was found with 50 bundles of
professionally wrapped heroin at Craigton, Primary School, Glasgow.
The drugs were wrapped in lottery tickets and placed inside his gym
shoes. The boy had carried the drugs unwittingly, discovering them as
he tried to put on his shoes for a PE lesson.

A teacher, who noticed pupils gathered round the boy after school,
called in the police after she saw the wraps. One pupil tasted the
drug and was sent to a children's hospital, but was later released
without treatment.

In a third case, a young boy was discovered with a large quantity of
what was believed to be cannabis at a school for four to
eight-year-olds in Farnham, Surrey.

On Tuesday, amid growing parental fears, the Scottish Education
Minister, Helen Liddell, set up an emergency team to deal with drug
incidents in schools.

Research by Neil McKeganey, published earlier this month, revealed
that one in 10 children in Scotland had taken drugs before the age of
10, and some 400 had experienced heroin. The survey did not include
the inner city "blackspots".
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Checked-by: Patrick Henry