Victoria Fletcher and Ian Brodie on why two national 'drug czars' are
refusing to take the soft option.

DRUG-TAKING BRITAIN IS 'WORST IN EUROPE'

EU Nations Will Resist Calls For More Tolerance

YOUNG Britons are much more likely to take drugs than any of their
European neighbours, with "soft" drugs proving the most popular.

A recent survey by the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs found that
35 per cent of British teenagers regularly took cannabis compared with
25.7 per cent in France and 21 per cent in Germany.

The "recreational" drug Ecstasy has been tried by 9 per cent of young
Britons but by only 2.8 per cent of Germans, 3.1 per cent of French
and 1 per cent of Swedes.

For the past decade, schools and politicians have struggled to find a
successful approach to slow the increase in the number of young people
taking drugs. Campaigners have divided between those arguing for a
tough, straightforward message that all drugs are dangerous - typified
by the "Just Say No" adverts - and those arguing that children need to
be given more information to inform their decisions.

Two years ago, the Government showed its commitment to tackle the
drugs problem when it ploughed 1.6 million UK pounds into a range of
innovative
educational projects. In Bradford, local sports personalities worked
with young people to discuss issues surrounding drugs, while in
Newham, East London, a children's theatre group acted out situations
involving drugs.

However, Britain has become aware that the drugs education has so far
not worked and that the problem is escalating. Exactly one year ago,
the Prime Minister decided that the only way to co-ordinate drugs
education was by appointing a drugs strategy co-ordinator. On January
4, 1998, Keith Hellawell took up the position with a mission to draw
up a detailed and clear drugs education policy for schools.

The British and American drugs co-ordinators are responsible for
organising national drug control policy and have direct access to
their heads of government.

The American official, Barry McCaffrey, takes the same hard line as
his British counterpart in saying there should be no distinction
between hard and soft drugs.

His spokesman, Bob Weiner, explained why yesterday. Marijuana, he
said, cannot be called soft when it is second only to alcohol as a
substance implicated in car crashes. Similarly, marijuana disrupts
productivity in schools and the workplace.

"Your drug czar is right in recognising the dangers of all illegal
substances," Mr Weiner said. The two men have met and found themselves
in agreement on this and many other topics in their fight against drug
use.

In the official American view, those in favour of legalising soft
drugs always maintain that increased use is irrelevant. According to
Mr McCaffrey, a no-nonsense retired general, it is the most important
reason against legalisation.

According to his staff, the point was proved in Alaska, which
recriminalised marijuana after several years of reducing it to the
level of a parking ticket. The switch was prompted by a surge in use
and increases in traffic accidents and overdose cases taken to
hospital emergency rooms, Mr Weiner said.