DEADLY DRUG'S SCOURGE NO LONGER CONFINED TO CITIES

From the Afghan hills to the plains of Pakistan, heroin snakes daily
through invisible channels on its relentless way to Britain.

As the tragic death of young Carly Townsend shows, the deadly drug is
no longer confined to the big cities.

Drugs squad officers in Wales have warned that heroin is being sold in
smaller and smaller "deals"...some going for as little as ?2.50 which
is cheaper than a pint in the pub.

One officer who asked not to be named said: "I have heard of heroin
being sold that cheap...the idea is of course to get people hooked so
they come back for bigger amounts."

As a Welsh drugs worker said yesterday: "Many street dealers are
desperate addicts themselves, they are not pharmacists. You never know
what you will get in a bag of heroin. It could well be death."

Alan Andrews, director of Llanelli drugs agency Choose Life, said of
addicts: "When they wake up in the morning until they go to bed at
night all they think about is drugs.

"All they think about is their next fix. They live for their next
fix.

"Once they have had their next fix they get an hour or so 'window' and
then they are thinking, 'Where do I get my next drugs from?' Their
whole life revolves around it."

Profit-rich heroin (an ounce can make around ?3,000 for dealers) has
been leaving its ugly mark across Wales for years.

Three years ago a baby died shortly after being born addicted to
heroin in Merthyr Tydfil where there have been dozens of deaths due to
the drug.

Last year, the Swansea Drugs Project revealed one of the heroin
addicts it was treating was a 13-year-old boy. Just this week, Swansea
police issued a warning after successive days in which heroin addicts
almost died from overdoses....the city has been hit by dozens of
heroin deaths in the past few years.

Yesterday Ifor Glynn, manager of the Swansea Drugs Project, said: "The
real problem is the fact heroin is so cheap means there is a lot of it
around."