HEROIN CROSSES THE CLASS DIVIDE

Police Battle To Contain Spread Of Drug In Capital

Heroin is becoming a major problem among the middle classes as well as the
less well-off, it has emerged after a record haul of the drug in Edinburgh.

One kilogram of the class A drug, believed to be worth up to UKP400,000 in
street value, was recovered in a police operation.

Senior police officers believe the seizure - the biggest single haul in
Edinburgh - shows how serious the heroin problem has become in the capital.
It is also being seen as proof that a growing number of people from all
backgrounds are switching from so-called soft drugs such as cannabis to heroin.

Mike Cadger, of the Edinburgh harm reduction agency Crew 2000, said: "You
are now as likely to `score' a bag of smack [heroin] in Stockbridge or
Morningside as you are anywhere else in the city.

"That is completely different from the situation in the early 1980s when if
you wanted to score smack you would go to one of the big housing estates
such as Muirhouse or Pilton."

Large quantities of heroin have been flooding into Edinburgh over the past
year, mainly on a well-established supply route from Turkey. The arrival of
huge quantities of the drug has been matched with a 400 per cent increase in
reported heroin use since 1996.

The flood has been partly halted by Operation Foil, an initiative begun in
December by Lothian and Borders Police to try to prevent a return to the
dark days of the early 1980s when Edinburgh was described as Europe's heroin
capital.

To date, cannabis worth UKP120,000 has been seized and more than 350 people
have been reported to the procurator-fiscal as a result of Operation Foil.
Up until now the largest consignment of heroin seized was worth UKP11,000.

The Deputy Chief Constable of Lothian and Borders, Tom Wood, said the kilo
of heroin - recovered in an operation in a street in Edinburgh - confirmed
the force's worse fears.

He said: "This is a major seizure for Lothian and Borders Police. It is
further confirmation of the fact that we have got a heroin problem when
quantities of this size are being brought into the city.

"It is also confirmation, if any were needed, that we have a significant and
ongoing problem 85 It will need a continuous and rigorous enforcement and
education programme and that is what we are trying to do."

Drug workers believe more people have been using heroin because it has
become cheaper and easier to get hold of. Faced with the option of spending
UKP15 on an ecstasy tablet or UKP5 on some heroin, more drug users are
turning to the "quick fix" option with disastrous results.

Mr Cadger said: "There is no doubt that with increased availability of any
substance comes increased use. If it is about and being offered to people in
say, the dance youth arena, then there is a tendency for more people to be
experimenting with this.

"Clearly the people the Government would describe as `socially excluded'
would be the key individuals in terms of the potential for heroin use. But
that is no longer the case. That's not to say the largest concentrations of
heroin users do not still reside in these areas, rather drugs in general
have become cross-class.

"An effect has occurred in the last ten years in which, what we would call,
the `normalisation' of drug use has taken place. If you are a young person
who goes out clubbing, there is an acceptability of drug use as being part
of that clubbing scene which then means that you are more likely to
experiment with another illicit substance. So in that sense the cross-class
germination has taken place."

Mr Cadger said the type of heroin coming into Edinburgh suggested more
people were injecting 96 a fact confirmed by figures from Lothian Health.

He added: "There is a myth going round Edinburgh that the smoking of heroin
is non-addictive. That clearly is worrying because in reality, when someone
starts smoking heroin they are going to get addicted to it relatively
quickly. In that sense there is a real destructive potentiality around
heroin use in general and young people in
particular."