EVIDENCE of heroin abuse has been discovered at Ashworth hospital, where Moors murderer Ian Brady is held. Burnt tinfoil containing traces of the drug was found two weeks ago in the hospital grounds. The discovery will fuel calls for the closure of the Merseyside hospital. Ashworth - one of three secure hospitals for dangerous long-term psychiatric patients - has twice been recommended for closure by government reports. Frank Dobson, Secretary of State for Health, announced a pounds 5.7 million security plan in May to eliminate criminal activity at the hospital. He was responding to the Fallon report, published in January, which found that pornography was freely available in Ashworth's personality-disorder unit, where sex offenders played unsupervised with an eight-year-old girl. [continues 311 words]
SPECIAL courts for drug offenders are to be extended nationwide despite criticisms that they are too soft on habitual criminals. Expansion of the scheme has infuriated Conservative MPs because drug addicts with long criminal records are shown mercy at magistrates' discretion. The new courts will have powers to hand out more lenient sentences to drug abusers who agree to have their addiction treated, even if they have committed other crimes such as burglary. This could mean an offender before the special courts for drugs and burglary offences receiving a lighter sentence than someone before another court who has committed only burglary. [continues 594 words]
A FORMER head of Scotland Yard's drug squad has angered his ex-colleagues and politicians by demanding that drugs such as ecstasy should be legalised and manufactured by reputable firms. Edward Ellison, a former detective chief superintendent, said the drugs should be taken out of the hands of criminal suppliers and manufactured by chemical companies such as ICI. His comments have sparked a furious backlash. Keith Hellawell, the "drug tsar" appointed by Tony Blair to co- ordinate the government's strategy against illegal substances, said that, if implemented, Ellison's demands would harm young people. [continues 262 words]
