MINISTER IN TEARS AS HE STARTS POUNDS 20M DRUGS DRIVE

A minister whose son died from a heroin overdose broke down in tears
yesterday as he announced funding to fight drug abuse.

At the launch of the pounds 20 million scheme, Ian McCartney, the Cabinet
Office minister, spoke of the need to "rid ourselves of this terrible evil"
which had cost thousands of lives. Mr McCartney's son, Hugh, 23, was found
dead by his mother in his rundown council flat in Glasgow in September. At
the funeral a week later, the minister said he felt "indescribable pain".
He told mourners that the death of your child was the most traumatic
situation that any parent will have to face.

Yesterday, Mr McCartney said he had been involved in fighting drug abuse
for more than 10 years. He told an audience in Manchester: "The fact that
my family has become a victim of that does not change that. The fact that
my son has died this year - he was one of 3,000 young people who should
have lived into the next century."

Under the new scheme, community teams will have access to drug abusers in
custody to help them "break free from a life of crime and drug abuse". Hugh
McCartney had been released from prison shortly before his death and was
trying to rid himself of an addiction that he had had since his teenage
years. Mr McCartney said: "In my view this money will help a significant
number of people to change their lifestyles and will save lives."

The minister's voice then faltered and he was forced to take a few minutes
to wipe his eyes and compose himself before carrying on. He said statistics
on drug abuse were "shocking". They showed that one in 12 of all
12-year-olds, one in three of 14-year-olds and 50 per cent of 16-year-olds
had admitted trying drugs at least once.

He hoped the Greater Manchester scheme would build on work already done by
the Government to tackle drug abuse at source. Drug co-ordinators, GPs and
community workers would work together to help young people reduce and
ultimately refrain from the use of drugs. Mr McCartney said: "This scheme,
and 20 other pilot schemes being announced this morning, will bring in
measures that I hope will help the campaign to rid ourselves of this
terrible evil."