SCOTLAND: TORIES DEMAND LIFE SENTENCES TO COMBAT DRUGS MENACE

DRUG dealers convicted for the second time should be given mandatory
life sentences, the leader of the Scottish Tory party said yesterday.

In the toughest and most radical stance taken by any political party
on Scotland's drug problem, David McLetchie advocated a 'two strikes
and you're out' sentencing approach to dealers.

His speech will be seen as an attempt to reclaim law and order as a
vote-winner for the Conservatives only 10 days before the formal
opening of the Holyrood election campaign on April 6.

"These are monsters who for their own selfish ends are prepared to
destroy our children," said McLetchie. "It is they who must be
destroyed, they who must suffer for crimes so appalling they amount
almost to murder."

Speaking at a fund-raising lunch in Hamilton, Lanarkshire, McLetchie
said dealers should be jailed for six years and have their assets
confiscated for a first offence and given mandatory life sentences for
any subsequent offence.

The crackdown would apply to dealers convicted of handling Class A
drugs such as cocaine, heroin and ecstasy.

McLetchie's remarks echo the previous government's plans to force
judges to impose mandatory life sentences for people convicted of two
crimes of sex or violence.

However the controversial policy has never been implemented in
Scotland. The row over it led to strained relations between former
Scottish Secretary Sir Michael Forsyth and Scottish High Court judges.

McLetchie's comments are sure to spark controversy and debate on the
drugs issue, which continues to be a spiralling problem throughout
Scotland.

He said: "We are not out to jail everyone caught smoking a joint of
cannabis. We are not out to persecute the pathetic addicts of harder
drugs.

"But the use of so-called 'social drugs' has to be discouraged by
stiffer penalties particularly on those who can so obviously afford it
and who should be providing role models for the younger generation.

"The less drugs are available, the fewer people will become addicted
to them and what we have to aim for is a zero tolerance of this cancer
that is eating away at our quality of life."

The move comes just days after the publication of Scotland's latest
crime figures which showed that for the first time in seven years the
crime rate has risen. Drug-related crimes had the biggest increase,
rising by 5,000 over the last 10 years to 31,000 in 1998.

Last week Scottish Home Affairs Minister Henry McLeish said drug
offences accounted for 7% of crime in Scotland, the equivalent of 86
crimes a day.

He said he had contacted the Association of Chief Police Officers to
begin planning the new war on dealers, which is expected to cost
around UKP5m.

The government recently announced a drugs enforcement agency and extra
crime squad officers in Scotland. However McLetchie claimed this did
not go far enough to tackle the drugs scourge.

"We applaud the idea of confiscating drug dealers' cash and ploughing
it back into the fight against drugs. But the punishments still don't
fit the crimes," he said.