MOWLAM TO TAKE OVER ANTI-DRUG CRUSADE

Ministers Are Called In To Step Up The War On Drugs

New Team Told That Results Must Now Come Faster

DRUGS tsar Keith Hellawell is to hand control of the Government war against
narcotics to Mo Mowlam amid growing alarm among ministers that his crusade
has flopped.

His 106,000 pound job is set to be eliminated when his initial three-year
contract expires in a year's time.

In the meantime, he will play a subordinate role, with ministers taking
over at the helm.

Cabinet enforcer Dr Mowlam is leading the takeover by a team of heavyweight
ministers, including deputy Ian McCartney and the Home Office's rising star
Charles Clarke.

The trio have been delegated by Tony Blair to make inroads into all aspects
of the problem.

These include a shortage of rehabilitation and monitoring facilities for
former addicts, the need to coordinate the work of different agencies more
closely and the need to communicate a radical and effective anti-drugs
message to the public.

"I have no doubt the era of the tsar is coming to an end," said one
Whitehall source last night.

"It is time for ministers to take the helm. There is an awful lot to do."
The relaunch of New Labour's anti-drugs crusade comes after results from
private polling and focus groups showing that drug abuse is rising fast up
the list of issues of concern to voters.

"Drug abuse and especially drug-related crime is rising as a concern to
voters," said a cabinet source. "That is a very definite trend we are
picking up in our focus groups and one we must urgently seek to reverse.
The perception is that, far from making progress, matters are getting
worse."

Ministers privately say they do not blame Mr Hellawell for failing to make
progress, but believe experience has shown that the idea of an anti-drugs
coordinator from outside Government and without knowledge of the way
Whitehall operates has simply proved to be unworkable.

"He has done his best to try to get to grips with the problem, but when you
do not have clout over particular Whitehall departments it is very
difficult. That is why ministers have to take the lead now," said one
minister.

However, supporters say Mr Hellawell is being made a scapegoat. Peter
Stoker, director of the National drugs Prevention Alliance, said: "I will
be sorry to see him go. He has become a victim of certain people in
Whitehall, who demand unrealistically quick-fix solutions.

"He is an honest man, who cares about what he is doing. It is ridiculous
to have expected him to turn things round in such a short space of time. I
also fear that the Government stance on drugs will be even more liberal
under Mo Mowlam."

The Government has become increasingly concerned about statistics showing
the scale of drug use in Britain.

* At least one third of crime in urban areas is now drug-related,
according to a Home Office study.

* Britain has the worst record for illicit drug use in Europe - three
times as many Britons aged 15 - 16 have experimented with Ecstasy than in
France or Germany. British teenagers are also more likely to have used
LSD, speed and solvents.

* Figures from the British Crime Survey suggest 1.86 million people in
England and Wales use drugs at least once a year.

* The number of offenders dealt with on drugs charges rose from 86,000 in
1994 to 95,000 in 1996. Over the last 10 years, the number of people
jailed for drugs offences has more than doubled from 2,893 in 1988 to 7,089
in 1998.

* The number of registered addicts in England rose from 22,000 to 38,000
in the five years to 1996.

But ministers are also acutely aware of a damaging whispering campaign
against 57-year-old Mr Hellawell, with one frequent complaint being that he
spends too much time "on trains and planes" - a recreance to the fact that
he lives in Yorkshire and commutes to his London office and that he has
gone on frequent overseas fact-finding visits.

Both Mr Hellawell and his deputy Mike Trace embarked on nine foreign trips
in a 16-month period, to places such as Iran, Pakistan and Turkey at a cost
of 20,000 pounds to the taxpayer.

The tsar has also come under fire for taking a 16,000 pound-a-year
part-time job as a non-executive director for Leeds property firm Evans,
despite earning more than the Prime Minister for his day job. A minister
said: "These are things I hear. Most of it is crap, but it is out there
and it is not helpful."

A colleague of Dr Mowlam said that after her initial disappointment at
being removed from the job of Ulster Secretary, she was now eager to put
her energies into leading the campaign against drug abuse. "She is really
up for it now and ready to put her abilities into play. She appreciates
that it is a a big job on an issue of growing importance," he said.

Her deputy, Mr McCartney, whose own son dies of a drug overdose last year
and who has spoken passionately in the Commons about the need to tackle the
drugs trade, will bring his own formidable determination and work rate to
bear on the issue.

Mr Clarke will work closely with the pair, with a particular brief to clamp
down on drug-related crime, especially in council estate blackspots across
Britain.

Mr Hellawell is understood to be aware that his contract is unlikely be
renewed, but remains fiercely proud of his work laying the foundations of a
10-year anti-drugs strategy for the Government.

He has also told his friends he is reconciled to the fact that visible
benefits from his programme may only become apparent long after he has left
the scene. following pressure to raise his media profile, Mr Hellawell has
embarked upon a publicity campaign to persuade middle-class recreational
drug users they have "blood on their hands".

But Downing Street believes he is not in the same league as a communicator
as Dr Mowlam and cannot command the same respect from the Whitehall machine
as battle-hardened ministers.

Tom Whitwell, features editor of clubbers' magazine Mixmag, said Mr
Hellawell was badly out of touch with the younger generation.

He said: "He spent an awful lot of time travelling round the country going
to things like workshops and plays in prisons. But it never came to
anything. He was also ill-informed about real drug use."