IS IT ONLY THE BEAUTIFUL WHO COUNT IN THE WAR ON DRUGS?

Protests as addiction expert alleges bias towards 'photogenic and middle
class' in media coverage of casualties

A DRUGS expert caused a storm of protest yesterday after claiming that the
death of the ecstasy victim Leah Betts had received national attention only
because she was photogenic and middle-class.

Rowdy Yates, the director of the Scottish Drugs Training Project, said that
government ministers react to public outrage when drawing up anti-drugs
policies rather than addressing the problems.

He said that the death of Ms Betts, which led the government to start an
anti-ecstasy campaign, had made the headlines only because of her
comfortable background. "If Leah Betts had been fat and ugly, we wouldn't
have heard that story," said Mr Yates, a lecturer in addiction studies, who
made his comments at Stirling University in a lecture on government drugs
policy over the past 100 years.. "But she was very photogenic, her mother
was a drugs worker and her father was a policeman, which gave it some irony.

"Her parents were also very outspoken about the drugsissues, which made it a
great story."

Paul Betts, Leah's father, reacted angrily to the comments. He said: "It
wasn't because Leah was photogenic, it was because her parents had the
ability to speak out and not be sat upon. Following on from Leah's death,
ecstasy was then researched fully and more is now known about its long-term
effects.

"In my opinion it takes high-profile cases to get people's heads out of
their backsides and I think Leah, Jan and I have managed to do that very
well."

Ms Betts died in 1995 after taking an ecstasy tablet on her 18th birthday at
home. Her parents Paul and Jan published a photograph of her lying in a
hospital bed attached to a life support machine in the hope of warning other
youngsters about the dangers of drugs.

Mr Yates, who is an MBE, also claimed that throughout the 20th century the
development of drugs policy had been "erratic and largely driven by a
perceived need to respond to public outrage at the latest drug scandal".

He said that progress would not be made in the war against drug abuse until
long-term funding was made available for what he called the right causes.

"There is no single drug service in the voluntary sector in Scotland which
has more than three year funding," he said. "On the other hand, I can't
think of a single police drugs squad that would be worried about its future
in that time.

"The war against drugs has taken a very short-term attitude and also focused
on completely the wrong drugs."

There was a mixed reaction to his speech. Neil Robertson, a training and
research officer at Fast Forward, the drug education and training charity in
Edinburgh, welcomed Mr Yates's comments. He said: "Rowdy is perfectly right
and he's only speaking the truth. There are hundreds of deaths every year
but the ones that receive the attention are those that are more shocking and
those associated with themiddle- class.

"It is more distressing to see the death of a beautiful young woman with
everything to live for than a poor kid from a deprived part of Scotland."

Dr Lawrence Gruer, Greater Glasgow Health Board's addictions co-ordinator,
said that the media continued to portray a distorted image of drug abuse in
Britain. He said: "Leah's death was very untypical. Very few people die from
ecstasy in this country and yet these cases are given so much publicity.

"Young men in their twenties are dying from heroin all the time but nothing
is said. The Leah Betts case is just another example of the tabloid press
distorting reality."

He cited other drugs deaths which have captured the media's attention,
including that of Julia Dawes, 18, a fitness instructor from Perth, who died
in 1998. Julia Young, 20, from Penicuik, was another pretty girl whose death
attracted the tabloids' attention. She died in 1995 after taking a lethal
mixture of ecstasy and speed at the Palace nightclub in Aberdeen.

Dr Gruer, defending the government's drugs strategy, said: "The government's
strategy has not been unduly influenced by Leah's death.

"In my view the bulk of the resources have been spent on addressing the
problem of heroin and that is quite right.

"The government has actually recognised the link between drug misuse and
deprivation and that's what they're concentrating on."