PORT FIGHTS HEROIN HABIT

Trawlers trailing foam and gulls chugged into Fraserburgh harbour one
morning last week laden with the white fish that have enriched the town.
Young men leapt ashore, unloaded catches, pocketed pay and went in search of
the new fisherman's friend: heroin. Two men waited on the quay. Business
looked promising. Most of the fishermen had at least (GBP)700 and only two
days to spend it. By the end of that time some are likely to be in debt.
Others might be in hospital fighting to survive an overdose.

Fraserburgh, a town of affluence and beauty perched on the north-east coast
of Scotland, has the highest per capita rate of heroin addiction in the
United Kingdom.

Two fishermen from the same vessel have overdosed and died this year. A
study published last week revealed that 50 of the 63 men who overdosed last
year were fishermen. Alisdair Ritchie, a 50-year-old skipper with two boats,
said more than 90 per cent of the fishermen under 30 were on drugs. "I don't
take on young men any more. Junkies are no use. They can fall asleep at the
wheel, anything can happen. My youngest crew member is 42."

Mr Ritchie makes one exception to his rule, his son, Marc, aged 20. "I take
him out to sea because it's the only way to keep him alive, to keep him away
from heroin. He was the brightest boy at school but now he can hardly think."

The Guardian Weekly Volume 160 Issue 14 for week ending April 4, 1999, Page 10