WARNING AS DRUGS DEATH TOLL HEADS FOR NEW RECORD

EXPERTS have warned that this year's death toll from drug overdoses in
Strathclyde could eclipse last year's record total.

Already 26 lives have been claimed by drugs in the first quarter of the
year, one short of the same period last year.

On Friday, Fraser Kennedy, 39, from Bridge of Weir, collapsed after leaving
a house at Kilbarchan, near Paisley. He was pronounced dead at Royal
Alexandra Hospital.

Death is believed to have been from a heroin overdose, although post-mortem
results have still to be confirmed.

A total of 152 people died as a result of drugs last year, and despite the
best efforts of anti-drug organisations, dealers are managing to market
their illicit goods successfully to young people, according to Dr Laurence
Gruer, a consultant in public health at Greater Glasgow Health Board

He said: "There is no suggestion this year's drugs death total in
Strathclyde will be lower than last year. Unfortunately, the pushers seem
to be doing a good job of promoting heroin as a softer drug than it
actually is.

"In fact, a heroin user has a one-in-100 chance of dying in any given
year," he added. "The only way drugs statistics will be reduced is if the
police dry up the supplies of heroin hitting the streets, or if we can
suitably educate and influence opinion in the younger generation."

Last year's death toll was almost three times that of 1997's statistic of
51. There were 99 fatal overdoses in 1998.

Alistair Ramsay, the chairman of Scotland Against Drugs, said it was likely
that the situation would deteriorate further before any improvement was
visible.

He said: "We have to brace ourselves for the fact there will be a
significant number of deaths this year.

"Sadly, things will get worse before they get better, because we cannot
turn the clock back to the early 1990s to try to prevent people starting
what is essentially a long-term habit.

"All we can do now is to ensure that as many programmes as possible to meet
current needs are put in place. SAD, through its recent advertising
campaign, aims to engage as many community groups as possible to enable
communities to respond with local solutions to local needs and tackle the
drugs problem at community level."