METHADONE BLAMED FOR SCHOOLGIRL'S PARTY DEATH

A schoolgirl who died from a drug overdose on Boxing Day may have
shared a bottle of methadone at a Christmas party, it was claimed yesterday.

Kerry-Ann Kirk, 15, who is thought to have had no previous experience
of drugs, was found dead in a friend's home in Coatbridge, Lanarks. A
police source said: "It would seem a group of teenagers were
experimenting with a bottle of prescribed methadone during the party.
Tragically, it would appear that, later that night, Kerry-Ann and
another teenager drank the rest of the bottle."

Kerry-Ann, a pupil at St Patrick's High, had celebrated Christmas at
home with her parents before going to a party at the home of her
friend, Sean Stack, 16. His brother Mark, 23, who has been on a
methadone programme for six months, said he felt guilty that the drug
could have been responsible for the girl's death. He said: "I had it
well hidden in the house. It was not lying about in the bathroom. I
did not think Sean would ever find it."

Phil Gallie, the Tory MSP, said that if methadone was the cause if
Kerry-Ann's death it called into question the way the drug is
distributed to registered addicts. He said: "The fact that methadone
is still being sold illegally makes it clear that the prescribing and
dispensing need to be tightened up."

Alistair Ramsay, of Scotland Against Drugs, said: "When methadone is
prescribed there should be a robust contract between the dependant and
the prescriber. There needs to be an element of trust that the person
taking the methadone agrees to keep it in a secure place, and not give
it away or sell it."

Kerry-Ann had been told to be home by 11pm, but telephoned her mother
at around 7pm on Christmas Day to say she was planning to stay
overnight. She was found under a blanket at lunchtime on Boxing Day.

Her mother Marie, 39, who has four other children, said yesterday she
could not believe that her daughter had access to methadone at the
party. She said: "I will be very shocked if that is true. She was very
much against drugs and she never had time for anyone who took them. I
know she did not use them because she was always very open and never
secretive."

Donald Dewar, Scotland's First Minister, said the girl's death, the
146th fatal drugs incident in Strathclyde this year, was a tragedy. It
was important to continue "unremitting effort" to beat the scourge of
drugs, he said.

Police investigations are continuing.