DEATHS SOAR AS DUTCH DRUGS FLOOD IN

Scotland is being flooded with temazepam from Holland, The Observer
has learnt. The discovery comes as the country reels from news of a
major escalation in drug-related deaths. In Strathclyde the count for
1999 reached 101 last Thursday, exceeding the total toll for 1998.

Police and campaigners blame the sudden increase in deaths in
Strathclyde on the use of temazepam or 'jellies', frequently taken
with heroin. Strathclyde is notorious for its distinctive drugs
cocktails, where heroin is used with drugs such as temazepam, diazepam
or alcohol.

Temazepam, a tranquilliser, was taken off prescription and became a
controlled drug in 1996, when its use with heroin was discovered to be
increasing drug fatalities. In 1995 the Strathclyde region experienced
its highest ever annual drugs-related death toll, when 102 people
died. In 1997 deaths fell to 51.

Barry Dougal of Strathclyde Police told The Observer that temazepam
was now back in Scotland in large quantities. 'It is coming from
Holland,' he said. 'The National Criminal Intelligence Unit and
Customs and Excise both confirm that that is the problem.
Multi-commodity dealers are bringing it in and selling it on.'

Cathy Travers of the Scottish Drugs Forum said the Netherlands was
known to be the main source of the 'jellies' now back on Scotland's
streets, but said it was also possible that temazepam was coming from
East Europe. Because drugs dealers have created a market of multi-drug
abuse in Strathclyde, individual drug couriers tend to smuggle a range
of drugs on trips into Scotland. This pattern is believed to be
unusual elsewhere.

Police sources also point to the fact that street heroin, or 'smack',
is getting purer. Where once 50 per cent purity was the most refined,
it is now found at 60 per cent. As 30 per cent purity is also
commonplace, the possibility of overdosing increases.

Drugs campaigners are calling for an extension of the methadone
programme, which supplies synthetic heroin to known users. This keeps
users away from dealers, reduces the incentive to commit crime to pay
for a habit, and removes the possibility of overdosing. Dr Lawrence
Gruer of Greater Glasgow Health Board says the programme has seen a 75
per cent reduction in death by overdose and a significant drop in
criminal activity. Critics says only abstinence is suitable for heroin
users.

The 100th victim of what is believed to have been a heroin overdose
was Catherine Devine. A friend called an ambulance on Thursday night
to a flat in Hamilton, where the 23-year-old was found by paramedics
and taken to East Kilbride hospital. She died that night. At the time,
policemen were talking to parents at nearby Hunter high school about
the dangers of drug abuse.

The latest figures from the British Crime Survey show drug use in
general to be on the increase, with cocaine in particular becoming the
fashionable drug. A survey of 10,000 people revealed that 52 per cent
had taken illegal drugs while cocaine use among 20-24 year olds had
doubled in the last year.