DEALERS TRICK YOUNG USERS INTO ADDICTION

Heroin dealers are exploiting the ignorance of a new generation of drug
users by selling the highly addictive narcotic as a cheap, lifestyle drug.

A growing body of research suggests that for a new wave of young people
heroin is "just another drug", no different to cannabis or amphetamines.

Professor Howard Parker of Manchester University, an expert on heroin who is
carrying out research on the drug for the Home Office, believes the lack of
education is partly responsible. "We have a generation of school kids who
have been told that ecstasy kills, but there is not much information about
heroin. A lot of these people have no idea that heroin is addictive."

His research has found there are few new heroin users in the cities where
the drug ravaged communities during the 1980s. He believes this is partly
because young drug-takers can see the effects of heroin addiction, and most
avoid it.

Heroin's transition from the number one bogey drug to an acceptable
alternative among clubbers and a significant number of novice substance
abusers is remarkable.

It is now known more commonly as "brown" and is frequently sold in
user-friendly UKP10 wraps. These contain about a tenth of a gram of heroin,
which is enough for a novice to remain intoxicated for an evening. Rather
than injecting, which is associated with health risks and junkies, heroin is
often chased (inhaled by burning it on tin foil), smoked in cigarettes or
snorted.

Dealers have also promoted the drug as a method of coming down from a "high"
after a night of dancing on ecstasy or speed. A small number of clubbers are
starting to smoke heroin at the end of the evening.

"It's become part of recreational drug ritual - this is how some people are
coming into contact with heroin for the first time," explained Mike Goodman,
director of Release, the national drug helpline.

Heroin has gradually grown in popularity as it has shed its 1980s image of a
losers' drug - reflected in the number and quantity of heroin seizures which
have risen every year for the past decade.

While the number of people taking heroin is still tiny, the repercussions
are immense. It is highly addictive and about 200 people in England and
Wales died from overdoses in 1997.

Mr Goodman said that Release is for the first time getting more inquiries
about heroin than about any other drug: "There has not been a high-impact
heroin campaign for some time and a lot of young people just don't realise
how dangerous and risky it is."

Drugs workers are sceptical about stories of dealers giving teenagers free
heroin to get them hooked. Researchers in Scotland have estimated that about
200 children aged 11 or 12 have taken heroin - almost all
of whom obtained it from their parents or older brothers and sisters.

While there are many possible explanations why a new wave of drug users are
turning to heroin, the dealers who supply it have been quick to realise
there are fortunes to be made.