THIS MAN IS PAID UKP106,000 A YEAR TO STOP BRITAIN'S YOUTH TAKING
DRUGS. IS HE WORTH IT?

Keith Hellawell, the Government's "drugs tsar", told listeners to a
recent radio interview that doctors are not allowed to prescribe
diamorphine, more commonly known as heroin, to addicts.

Quite what the listeners made of this remark is not clear. But all
over Whitehall - at the Home Office, the Department of Health and the
Cabinet Office, where Mr Hellawell is based - civil servants cringed
with embarrassment. The gaffe - doctors can indeed prescribe
diamorphine, provided they have a special licence - illustrates a
recurring criticism of the UK anti-drugs co-ordinator, to give him his
proper title: that he has failed to grasp the detail of his job.

"He is aloof, uninspiring and out of touch," said a senior academic in
the drugs field yesterday. "Worst of all, he is out of his depth. He
is simply not bright enough. He can't hold all the balls up in the
air."

Harsh words, but they were not untypical of the views expressed by
drugs experts and voluntary workers yesterday, 16 months after Mr
Hellawell was appointed by the Government to spearhead a new
anti-drugs crusade.

Mr Hellawell, a former chief constable of West Yorkshire, was selected
for the UKP106,000-a-year post because of his long-standing interest
in drugs issues and his reputation for being prepared to "think the
unthinkable".

Ironically, the initial concerns expressed about him - that, because
of his background, he would concentrate exclusively on law enforcement
aspects of the job - have proved unfounded. In fact, he has shifted
the emphasis to education and rehabilitation, making clear that he
believes the problem cannot be solved by simply arresting and locking
up addicts.

His 10-year strategy, unveiled in April last year, included a new
penalty obliging criminals to undergo treatment for drug addiction. It
also promised improved drugs education in schools and the
establishment of a national Drugs Prevention Advisory Service to
support local drug action teams in the community. Even Mr Hellawell's
detractors say the strategy looks good on paper, encompassing every
conceivable angle. There is also grudging admiration for his success
in squeezing UKP217m out of the Treasury to implement it.

But there remains widespread scepticism about whether Mr Hellawell, a
former miner who now drives a Porsche, has the authority, courage and
vision to pick his way through the political minefield and make real
progress in the fight against drugs.

Many observers draw a contrast with his deputy, Mike Trace, who is
seen as brighter, more accessible and more in touch with youth issues.
Mr Trace, who rides a motorbike, is a former social worker who worked
in the voluntary drugs field.

"Mike Trace holds the whole thing together. He has a far better grasp
of the detail and he works his socks off," said one Hellawell critic.
"He is immensely relaxed and well-respected."

Out in the field, experts picked their words more carefully. Mr
Hellawell, after all, is the public face

of government drugs policy and voluntary agencies are largely
dependent on government funding. "It would be suicide to criticise
him," said one.

Roger Howard, chief executive of the Standing Conference on Drug
Abuse, was among the few prepared to speak on the record yesterday. He
praised Mr Hellawell for his willingness to heed the views of people
working at the sharp end.

Mike Goodman, director of Release, the drugs charity, described Mr
Hellawell, diplomatically, as a safe pair of hands. "Certainly we
could have done worse," he said.

"He's not a great communicator, but he is amiable, and parts of his
strategy are very good. I wish that he would be more outspoken
sometimes, that he would tackle the difficult issues such as
decriminalisation, which I believe that he supports."

This is a persistent criticism made of Mr
Hellawell: that he has abandoned his liberal,
occasionally maverick, views and is toeing the
Government's hard line on drugs.

As a police officer, he was prepared to advocate reform of the
"absurd" laws on prostitution and the legalisation of brothels. He
also said, in an interview on the BBC's Panorama programme, that he
foresaw the day when cannabis would be legal. After being appointed to
his post, he disowned that comment.

There is no doubt that Mr Hellawell is in a difficult position. He is
"drugs tsar", modelled on an American concept, but unlike his American
counterparts he has no budget, no independence and no real power. He
is, in reality, just a special adviser, yet, unlike other government
special advisers, he has a high profile.

There is no doubt, too, that he has suffered from snobbishness and
elitism at the hands of some senior civil servants, who resented an
outsider - and, worst of all, a police officer - being parachuted in
above their heads. "What's a copper doing in Whitehall?" people would
whisper after he arrived.

One government adviser on drugs, who knows him well, said yesterday:
"There were people who fell over backwards at drinks parties when he
was appointed. In reality, he has not done badly. But he does not have
the sagacity to understand the larger issues. I doubt that the
benefits of his job are worth the cost."

Another observer described his appointment as a poisoned
chalice.

"New Labour has unloaded the political embarrassment of its failing
drugs policy on to the drugs tsar," he said. "As a figurehead, Keith
Hellawell serves that purpose."