RED-TAPE BLOCKING DRUGS-BATTLE CASH

According to the Belfast Telegraph's poll (March 9), Ulster is losing the
battle with the drugs barons. Not a bit of wonder.

The Government' s much-trumpeted drugs strategy appears to have ground to
halt. Meanwhile, the barons (fast becoming dukes as the money pours into
their coffers) are grinning broadly.

The pounds 0.9m tranche of Treasury money due to be spent on Northern
Ireland anti-drugs measures by this month is still sitting somewhere,
unallocated and unannounced.

My voluntary group has been waiting since November for someone in Stormont
to tell us whether our project is going ahead or not. One after the other,
excuses have been trotted out for the delay.

Our particular bid - for a three-year education project aimed at stopping
children starting on the downward spiral - has the financial and moral
support of statutory and voluntary agencies in one of the strategy's key
target areas, North Down and Ards.

Most of the money we need has been set aside for us or is already in the
bank but we can't spend it without a vital top-up from government.

Without an announcement soon we are in danger of losing most of it - and the
battle for the hearts and minds of the young people in this area.

Duggie Anderson,
Chairman, CODAG.