DRINK BIGGER MENACE THAN DRUGS, SAYS POLICE CHIEF

THE Government's drugs tsar, Keith Hellawell, was yesterday forced to
defend Government policy as Fife's chief constable warned alcohol was
a greater menace in Scottish society.

During the launch of a drive to raise awareness of alcohol problems
with school-age teenagers, Chief Constable James Hamilton said alcohol
abuse was a far greater problem than drug abuse. Its effects were
spread over several decades in contrast to the short-term effects of
drugs.

Last week, Henry McLeish, the Scottish home affairs minister, said
drug abuse was the greatest evil facing society.

On a visit to Erskine yesterday, Mr Hellawell, the former West
Yorkshire chief constable who has been appointed UK Coordinator of the
Government's anti-drugs strategy, insisted that alcohol had not been
excluded from his remit.

The direction of the Government's campaign had been strongly
challenged earlier by Fife police and health workers, who claimed that
drink was a greater menace with a disproportionate amount of resources
applied to fighting drug abuse.

They said that politicians should take the responsibility for placing
alcohol much higher on the agenda and putting its dangers on the same
footing as illegal drugs. There were 19 deaths in Fife last year with
a direct link to alcohol while eight people died through abuse of
recreational drugs.

It has been estimated there are 44,000 deaths in the UK each year
attributable to alcohol, but this figure does not include deaths which
may have had a root cause in alcohol such as strokes or accidents.

Deaths due to liver disease caused by alcohol rose by two thirds in
the decade to 1994 and the mortality rate from that cause doubled
among 15 to 44 year-olds in the same period.

Mr Hellawell, who was attending a drugs conference, agreed that
alcohol was closely tied in with the drug problem. "If you look at the
estimated 20,000 people being treated in England, about 55 per cent of
them are addicted to heroin. The remainder are addicted to legally
prescribed drugs. The links between alcohol and drugs and tobacco
and drugs are quite substantial."

He added that there was growing evidence of links between cannabis,
alcohol and mental health.

Earlier, Mr Hamilton had criticised parents for introducing children
to alcohol on festive or social occasions, pointing out such an
attitude to drug-taking would be unthinkable.

Ann Patrick, a Fife chief inspector, said teenagers had been getting
mixed messages about drugs because alcohol seemed to have been forgotten.

"There is certainly more crime on a Friday and Saturday night caused
by alcohol than through drugs, whether it is breach of the peace,
assault or vandalism."

Bill Miller, Fife senior-health promotion officer, said tobacco was
the biggest killer and alcohol came second before drug abuse. He said:
"Alcohol is a drug and it should be placed on exactly the same footing
as other drugs."

The emotional and psychological damage done to families by an alcohol
abuser had never been taken into account, despite the fact that the
NHS spent between UKP150 million and UKP2 billion treating the effects
of alcohol abuse each year, he added.

Janice Munro, an alcohol development officer, said that drug agencies
now outnumbered groups set up to combat alcohol abuse, adding: "There
is a disproportionate amount of money being spent fighting drug abuse
.. There seems to be a national strategy for drugs but none for alcohol."

Checked-by: Patrick Henry