ECSTASY BABY'S MUM WON'T FACE CHARGES

Probe: Police Believe She Saved Boy's Life After Drug Accident

A mother will not be charged after her baby swallowed an Ecstasy
tablet.

Joe Tague was said to have found the tablet in her handbag and was
taken to hospital hallucinating.

His mother, Alana, called an ambulance as soon as she realised her
13-month-old had eaten one tablet and had another two in his mouth.

Police investigating the incident on Monday afternoon accepted that
the drugs were not hers.

Alana said they had been left by someone else after a party in her
home in Leith, Edinburgh, at the weekend.

She had found the tablets while clearing up and had put them in her
handbag.

Detectives and medical experts believe only the mother's quick
thinking saved her son's life.

A police source said it seemed the youngster had been crawling around
and put his hand into a bag, grasped the drug and put it in his mouth.

Alana, 21, who is not a drug user or dealer, spotted her baby and
pulled two half-chewed tablets from his mouth.

She called the ambulance service and they rushed Joe, who was in a
serious condition, to Edinburgh's Royal Hospital for Sick Children.

The police source said: "The baby was clearly in distress. His eyes
were rolling and his teeth were jarring and grinding."

Officers called to the house were given the two half-chewed tablets.
Members of Alana's family are expected to be interviewed.

A report will be sent to the procurator fiscal since the incident
involved a class A drug. But it is thought unlikely that the mother
will face prosecution.

Last night, the youngster was "stable and improving" in hospital,
where he was still under observation.

Relatives visited throughout the day to lend support.

Grandmother Moira Purves said the incident had badly shaken the
family.

And she defended Alana, saying: "My daughter is not a drugs dealer. It
was just a tragic accident."

Neighbours of Alana, who is separated from Joe's father, Ian, said she
doted on her two small children - she also has a two-year-old girl.

They said she was regularly seen pushing Joe in his pram in the nearby
park.

One said: "We all feel really sorry for the wee boy and his mother.
She must be going out of her mind."

The head of Scotland Against Drugs, Alastair Ramsay, said the incident
showed how easily youngsters could come to grief when drugs were
about. He said: "It illustrates drug-using parents, or parents who
have drug-using friends or relatives, must be extremely careful to
keep these substances out of reach of children."

Anti-drugs campaigners yesterday blasted police for being "too soft"
on parents whose children got access to dangerous substances.

Mothers Against Drugs claimed Alana should be treated like any other
criminal caught in possession of a class A drug.