Pubdate: Tue, 28 Dec 1999 Copyright: The herald 1999 Source: Herald, The (UK) Contact: http://www.theherald.co.uk/ DRUGS TOLL RISES The Message Is Not Getting Across Christmas will never be the same for the family of Kerry-Ann Kirk, the youngest drugs victim in Scotland this year; nor for the families of the six others who have died over the festive period after taking drugs. The oldest of these victims was in his thirties; the others were in their twenties. These deaths, as has been the case in so many this year, are a terrible waste of unfulfilled life. The West of Scotland, whose drug-related deaths are meticulously recorded by Strathclyde Police, has a crisis on its hands. Only two years ago Strathclyde had 51 drugs deaths. 1999's figures are only a little short of three times that total. And the year is not out yet. Strathclyde Police have not been sitting on their hands, as the impressive figures for illicit drug seizures and drug-related offences reported to procurator-fiscals confirm. But it is obvious that highly dangerous drugs are readily available, and not just on the streets. Just how malevolently insidious the drugs problem has become is illustrated by the awful circumstances of Kerry-Ann's death, at an adult-supervised Christmas party in a schoolfriend's home after apparently taking methadone, the lethal synthetic opiate used to treat heroin addicts. How is it that a 15-year-old with no record of drug abuse came into contact with methadone? Methadone has claimed lives over the years when it has been illegally available outside the controlled environment of the doctor's surgery or the dispensary, where it should be taken under supervision.The West of Scotland is better than many places at keeping its availability under control, but this tragic case suggests there are still lessons to be learned (although it may have come from another part of the country). It is painfully evident that the message about the dangers of drugs is not getting across to the young and the impressionable who are most vulnerable to their supposed attractions. But that is not to advocate the hard-line, absolutist stance taken until recently by agencies such as Scotland Against Drugs. The grim statistics clearly show that too many young people have been saying yes when they had been told to just say no. But neither is that to endorse experimentation (although that appears almost to have been the message from sections of the media that have been carrying articles about so-called "designer drugs"). Drugs are a complex issue and young people in particular need to be aware of just how dangerous their use can be. But the message needs to be put across in a more sophisticated way. There is surely a key role for the new Drug Enforcement Agency in identifying an effective strategy, particularly in relation to heroin and its killing cousin, methadone. - --- MAP posted-by: allan wilkinson