DRUGS TOLL RISES AS FIVE FOUND DEAD

FIVE more drug-related deaths are believed to have occurred in the Glasgow
area over the weekend.

The bodies of three men were found within three hours yesterday at
locations in Clydebank and in Glasgow, while two others were found on Saturday.

It is not thought the weekend deaths are connected to an unidentified
illness which has claimed the lives of 12 drug injectors in recent weeks
and has led Greater Glasgow Health Board to draft in an international
expert to help with its investigations.

The latest deaths involved a 19-year-old man, who has not been named, who
was found in a flat in Alsation Avenue, Clydebank, at 9am yesterday.

Ten minutes later, the body of Mr Steven Reynolds, 26, was found in his
room in James Duncan House, Bell Street, Glasgow.

The body of a 39-year-old, who has not yet been named, was found at about
11.25am in his room in Hope House, Clyde Street, Glasgow.

On Saturday, the body of Mr Robert Long, 27, of Duntocher Road, Clydebank,
was found in a house in the town's Shakespeare Avenue. Another
drugs-related death is understood to have occurred on Saturday but no
details have been released at the request of the family.

Strathclyde Police are understood to be investigating the theory that they
may be drugs-related.

If confirmed, they would bring the number of drug-related deaths in the
force area to 44 this year. The figure does not include the 12 heroin users
who died from the unidentified illness. Last year the total reached a
record figure of 148.

It was confirmed on Friday that Dr Jai Lingappa, a senior epidemiologist
from the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, US, had
arrived in Glasgow to carry out a study into the deaths of the 12 drug users.