ATTITUDE TO DRUG-ABUSING CELEBRITIES 'SENDING WRONG MESSAGE'

Leniency towards drug-abusing celebrities is sending out the wrong
message to children and young people, the United Nations drug control
agency said today.

The International Narcotics Control Board (INCB) warned that allowing
famous people to get away with drug crimes had a damaging effect on
impressionable youngsters and undermines faith in the criminal justice
system.

INCB member Professor Hamid Ghodse said: "They get more lenient
responses by the judiciary and law enforcement, and that is
regrettable.

"There should not be any difference between a celebrity who is
breaking the law and non-celebrities.

"Not only does it give the wrong messages to young people, who are
often quite impressionable, but the wider public become cynical about
the responses to drug offenders."

He suggested that drug-abusing celebrities from the worlds of music
and sport were treated with leniency, but was unwilling to name
specific individuals.

"A number of people have got a lenient response in the UK and around
the world," Prof Ghodse said, at the launch of the INCB's annual report.

The document said: "Depending on how the authorities respond in the
case, the media reports and associated internet chatter often reflect
or generate perceptions that the system has treated the celebrity ...
more leniently than others.

"The authorities ... should ensure that public celebrities who violate
drug laws are made accountable."

The report also expressed concern about rising opium production in
Afghanistan - an issue which Britain has taken a lead in combating.

Prof Ghodse, a former chairman of the INCB and professor of
international drug policy at St George's University, London, said he
believed international forces in Afghanistan had lost control, with
opium production rising to 8,200 tons last year.

The total in the previous 12 months was 6,100 tons, and just 185 tons
in 2001 after a crackdown by the Taliban, which then had political
control of the country.

"It is not only drug agencies that can tackle this issue, it has to be
with the rest of the elements that are trying to help," he said.

The INCB called on Asian governments to set up or strengthen controls
on the chemical acetic anhydride, which is used to manufacture cocaine
from the opium crop.

Tougher limits on the chemical could reduce amounts being smuggled
into Afghanistan for use in illicit heroin factories, the organisation
said.

Britain remains one of the countries with the highest abuse of
cocaine, along with Spain and Italy, the report said.

It reproduced previously-published Home Office data which showed
cocaine use in England and Wales rose from 2% to 2.4% in 2005/06 for
15- to 64-year-olds.

While Prof Ghodse welcomed figures which indicated a continuing fall
in cannabis use in the UK, he repeated concerns about a rise in the
drug's strength.

Home Office data revealed earlier this year that powerful "skunk"
varieties accounted for just 15% of cannabis seizures in 2002 but now
makes up between 70% and 80%.

The INCB is the body which oversees the way governments adhere to
international drug control treaties.