SCOTLAND MAY STOP JAILING ADDICTS

The Scottish Executive is considering ending jail terms for drug
users, or even ceasing prosecutions for drug use.

Angus MacKay, the Deputy Justice Minister, suggested the moves
yesterday, He also told MSPs that the Executive was investing an extra
UKP2 million to provide better treatment for addicts. The
announcements came after the deaths of eight heroin addicts in Glasgow
over the past fortnight from a mystery illness that has affected 19
drug users.

Police have set up a special unit to investigate the recent deaths,
which health officials believe may have been caused by contaminated
heroin, rather than problems with the citric acid that many addicts
use to dissolve the drug, as was initially suggested.

Brian Cowan, a consultant at the Victoria Infirmary, said the hospital
was seeing a number of cases, many of them young women. "Some of them
go on to develop a fatal, what looks like a septicaemic illness," he
said. "Despite all the therapy, a large number of them are dying and
that's very unusual."

The Executive has been looking at drug problems in other parts of the
world. Mr MacKay said he had been particularly impressed by a New York
programme in which first-time drug offenders were given the
opportunity to deal with their drug abuse problem and avoid a jail
term. "We too are now looking at more non-custodial alternatives," he
said.

Fiona Hyslop, SNP Shadow Housing and Social Justice Minister, said
those working with drug addicts wanted to see the money spent right
away. "They cannot wait for things to take place in six months, 12
months or two years," she said.