PRESSURE GROWS ON HELLAWELL OVER DRUG RISE

Keith Hellawell, the Government's anti-drugs co-ordinator, denied
yesterday that his strategy was failing as new figures showed a rise
in the number of drugs-related offenders.

Mr Hellawell held talks with the Prime Minister at Downing Street
after weeks of damaging speculation in Whitehall that have undermined
his position.

As he met the Prime Minister to discuss the ten-year anti-drugs
strategy, Government figures showed that almost 128,000 people were
convicted of a drugs offence in in 1998, a rise of 13 per cent on
1997. In 1988 only 35,000 people were convicted of a drugs offence.

The number of seizures of cocaine rose by one quarter to 5,000 and
heroin by 19 per cent to 14,900. However, the increase in seizures may
only be a reflection of there being many more drugs being available to
seize.

Mr Hellawell, the former Chief Constable of West Yorkshire, has been
on the defensive all year as the Whitehall rumour mill claimed that
ministers had lost faith in his abilities.

His biggest difficulty has been that he hates being labelled a "drugs
czar", with its implications of an all-powerful figure. He never uses
the term himself, preferring the title UK anti-drugs
co-ordinator.

He was given the task of producing a ten-year plan to combat the use
of drugs. A strategy was published last year, which set, for the first
time, a series of targets.

The proportion of people aged 16 to 25 using cocaine and heroin is to
be cut in half by 2008 and by 25 per cent in 2003; the number of 11 to
16-year-olds using Class A drugs is to cut by 20 per cent by 2002.
Other targets include reducing repeat offending by drug-using
criminals by half by 2008 and by 25 per cent by 2005.

The targets were rendered almost meaningless, however, as no baseline
figures were in the plan because the Government claimed that existing
statistics were inadequate. Observers also noted that many of the
targets were set for after the next general election and after the end
of Mr Hellawell's three-year contract, which ends in January 2001.

The strategy also concentrates on the most harmful drugs, such as
cocaine and heroin, with the implication that there is less
concentration of softer drugs, which is not something that the
Government wants to shout about for fear of upsetting middle England.

Yesterday, after meeting the Prime Minister, Mr Hellawell said: "We
are concentrating on the drugs that cause most harm, though this does
not mean we are going soft on cannabis."