DEATHS ON THE ROAD OVERTAKEN BY HEROIN

Heroin deaths among under-40s outnumber road fatalities in the Northumbria
region, an indication of the seriousness of the drug problem, police said
yesterday.

Tony Crimmins, Assistant Chief Constable of the Northumbria force, said that
in the past 18 months they had recorded 39 deaths of addicts aged between 16
and 40. During the same period there were 28 deaths in the same age band on
the roads.

The figures were released as Tony Blair promised greater action on drug
abuse and crime.

Police and Whitehall officials have already registered concern at the
breadth of the heroin problem and this week one London MP suggested that the
drug was now available for as little as pounds 1 a dose. In England and
Wales, there were 255 heroin deaths across all ages in 1997, the latest year
for statistics. In the Strathclyde region, which is another of the main
areas for abuse, there were 100 deaths from heroin among all users last
year. The police force recorded 161 traffic fatalities.

Mr Crimmins said heroin was clearly more widely available than it had been.
"Although only a relative minority of people in the region use heroin, there
is evidence that it is becoming more prevalent and young lives are being
needlessly wasted as a result," he said.

Commenting on the figures, Mike Goodman, the director of charity Release,
said: "We cannot read too much into a sample from just one part of the
country, but it is certainly the case that we are seeing a rapid increase in
heroin deaths this year. It shows that the war against drugs thus far has
failed and that we need to look at more radical options such as prescribing
heroin to addicts in a manner that can be controlled."

Other experts have suggested that there is a trend towards more heroin use
in smaller towns and cities.

Interpol has said that Britain will continue to remain a top target for
traffickers.