TRIMBLE IS URGED TO TAKE OVER DRUGS FIGHT

DAVID Trimble was today urged to take personal control of Ulster's war
on drugs as the controversy deepened around Health Minister Bairbre De
Brun.

UDP leader Gary McMichael called for the First Minister to intervene
amid claims Ms de Brun is refusing to work with the RUC Drugs Squad.

And a senior RUC officer issued a warning against any move to tamper
with the strategy already in place for fighting the narcotics scourge.

The new twists add to pressure on Ms de Brun after the Belfast
Telegraph highlighted the confusion at the centre of Northern
Ireland's drugs policy.

Mr McMichael, who chairs a drug awareness group in Lisburn, said: "I
have set up a meeting with Mr Trimble to ask him to take over the
drugs portfolio.

"It would be totally inappropriate for the matter to lie with Ms De
Brun's department if it is not going to be given due attention.

"The drugs problem needs to be given the same level of prominence
which it received when Adam Ingram was in control.

"It is a sad state of affairs because when people take on jobs in a
collective government, they should leave their politics at the door."

Sources have claimed that Ms de Brun is refusing to chair the Northern
Ireland Central Co-ordinating Group on Drugs because it includes a
senior RUC officer.

The high-powered committee, which brings together representatives from
various agencies, was chaired by Mr Ingram until devolution.

But the current confusion at Stormont has meant that almost one
million pounds due to be spent on battling the drugs menace is stuck
in the pipeline.

And moves to overhaul government structures and also to appoint a new
Northern Ireland drugs czar have also been delayed.

Today, a spokesperson for the department of health insisted the drugs
portfolio had not been handed out - and said new structures needed to
be put in place.

But RUC Assistant Chief Constable Raymond White, who helped set up the
NICCG, warned against splitting it up.

Describing a co-ordinated approach as vital, he said: "Any dilution of
that approach can only serve to increase the untold misery which
illegal drugs bring."

Mr McMichael said that the hold-up in allocating funds was hitting
street-level anti-drugs projects across the province.

He said: "The money for our project in Lisburn runs out in
June.

"And judging by the number of calls I have had, many workers across
the province are in the same boat."The issue was set to be raised at a
meeting of the Assembly's health committee today.