HEROIN UK - CHILDREN HOOKED BY A WRAP AT UKP2

BENGALI children as young as 11 are becoming addicted to heroin, which is
being sold on housing estates for UKP2 a wrap.

In a development which has significant cultural ramifications within the
closely knit and predominantly Muslim Bangladeshi community, young girls as
well as boys are becoming hooked on the drug.

The problem, which drug treatment workers say has emerged almost from
nowhere in the past two years, is a further indication of how heroin is
penetrating all sections of British society.

Staff at the Addaction Tower Hamlets Community Drugs Team in east London
said yesterday that the drug was "everywhere". Jeff Evans, the team leader,
said: "We recently had a group of schoolchildren come in here who had found
a big bag of heroin. They had smoked the whole lot. All the children around
here know what to do with it."

Heroin has also gripped the Vietnamese community in neighbouring Hackney,
leading to plans for Britain's first drug rehabilitation centre for
non-English speaking clients.

Many of the Vietnamese heroin users are former "boat people" who were
introduced to the drug while living in refugee camps in Hong Kong. Tower
Hamlets has an association with drug use which dates back to the last
century when the docks at Wapping and Limehouse received trade from across
the empire.

The guide on the Docklands Light Railway tells tourists of the wharfside
"opium dens" that existed in what was London's original Chinatown.

Most would be unaware that beneath the railway's elevated tracks, the
streets are littered with the silver foil of the modern opiate user.

Mr Evans said children report that dealers sell "gear" in a UKP2 package,
which comprises a small paper wrap of the drug and an attached strip of
silver foil for smoking it.

Just four years ago, the treatment centre had only a couple of Bengali
clients. It now has 146 under the age of 25. For most of them, heroin was
the first drug they had tried.

Youth worker Kirsty Blenkins said it was common for several boys in the same
family to face addiction problems. "They are living [at an average of] 3.5
people to a room in Tower Hamlets and if you're sharing a bedroom, it is
easy to learn how to use heroin."

She said the centre was now starting to see increasing numbers of women,
mostly in their late teens, who have become addicted after smoking heroin
with their boyfriends. The women are in danger of becoming outcasts if their
drug habits become known.

Outreach worker Monzur Ahmed said: "They are worried that their brother or
someone from the estate might come in and see them here. It would be bad for
their reputation. People would think, 'Is she a prostitute? Where does she
get her money for the drugs from?' She could face a stigma." The team plans
to appoint a young Bengali woman
to help the female users to come forward for treatment in confidence.

The centre is one of only a handful in Britain to receive police referrals
of people found in possession of Class A drugs.

Offenders who are prepared to undergo an assessment session with drug
counsellors are likely to be given only a caution by the courts.

The scheme, which is supported by local police chiefs, has helped 111
offenders to address their drug-taking. Of these, 59 have asked to take part
in extended treatment programmes, where they can receive a range of
therapies, including acupuncture.