SALE OF LIGHTER FUEL BANNED FOR UNDER-18S

The sale of gas lighter fuel to under-18s will be banned, following a spate
of deaths caused by young people sniffing butane. George Howarth, the Home
Office minister, will announce this week that the Government intends to make
it illegal for shopkeepers to sell the refills to youngsters.

Trading standards officers will be given additional powers to prosecute
retailers who ignore the new measure. Young people who want to buy gas
lighter fuel would have to provide identification documents showing they are
over 18.

The move follows a Government consultation exercise which found more than
half of deaths from solvent abuse involved lighter fuel. A trend for
sniffing the gas - which has a similar effect to inhaling glue - is
particularly prevalent among 16- to 18-year-olds and increasingly involves
girls.

A total of 339 people have been killed by solvent abuse over the last five
years, around two-thirds children. There has been an increase in the problem
over the past two years, with the number of deaths rising by 13 per cent
last year alone, most linked to gas lighter fuel.

Ministers were deeply concerned to discover the butane refills are often
used by children who have no previous experience of drugs and can lead to
the abuse of harder substances. They are also worried about the number of
crimes being committed by young people high on solvents. Warren Hawksley,
chairman of the pressure group Re-Solv, welcomed the lighter fuel ban. "This
product is very dangerous," he said. "More than 50 per cent of deaths from
solvent abuse are caused by it and 38 per cent of those who died had no
known previous history of abuse. The Government is right to ban its sale to
under-18s."

The existing law makes it an offence to sell glue or lighter fuel, knowing
that it will be abused, but it is extremely difficult to get convictions on
this basis.

The Government recently announced tough targets for reducing drug abuse, as
part of a 10-year strategy for tackling the problem, drawn up by Keith
Hellawell, the so called "drugs tsar".

Ministers pledged to cut the number of people under 25 using drugs and to
tackle the problem of reoffending. Courts will be encouraged to send drug
users to rehabilitation centres, rather than jail, where many addicts move
onto harder substances.

But Jack Cunningham, the Cabinet Office minister who is responsible for
drugs policy, has admitted that the Government was fighting a losing battle
against a growing tide of heroin abuse and drug-related crime.