LABOUR ACCUSED AS SAD BOSS QUITS

THE director of the anti-drugs agency set up by Scotland's four political
parties will resign this week in protest at Labour's "lack of political
will" in tackling the problem.

David Macauley said the government was projecting "mixed messages" to young
people about the dangers of substance abuse and was more interested in
sustaining a "drugs industry" of health workers rather than dealing with
the problem.

Scotland Against Drugs (SAD) was formed two years ago in a cross-party
initiative by Michael Forsyth, then the Tory Scottish secretary, and is
chaired by Sir Tom Farmer, the chairman of Kwik-Fit.

Earlier this year, the government cut the agency's funding and redefined
its remit to focus on work with existing government drug agencies.
Companies such as Marks & Spencer and ScottishPower, which support
community projects run by SAD, are understood to be concerned about the
change.

The agency had been split over whether to concentrate on an
abstinence-based policy or to encourage health projects which maintain
addicts on prescription drugs. Macauley said more should be done to educate
young children.

He criticised celebrity events at Downing Street, particularly the
reception with the Gallagher brothers from the pop group, Oasis, who have
condoned drug use.

"Scotland has one of the worst drug problems in the western world, a fact
this government seems to ignore," he said. "Through our own tolerance of
the problem we allow dealers to target our children."

Earlier this month, teenager Julia Dawes, a fitness instructor from Perth,
died after taking ecstasy at a nightclub. In January, Allan Harper, a
13-year-old from Cranhill, Glasgow, became Scotland's youngest victim of
heroin.

There have been 64 drug-related deaths in Strathclyde this year, a figure
which has already surpassed last year's total.

A Scottish Office report on government-funded drug action teams (DATs), due
out in September, is likely to criticise their "unaccountability" and call
for structural reform.

Macauley believes the creation of a Scottish parliament offers an
opportunity to tackle the problem, but said lack of will across the
political spectrum "offered little hope".

He was highly critical of DATs. "They seem to be continually in a loop of
strategy and very light on solutions. When will we stop counting the
problem and start acting on it?" he asked.

He said he felt his resignation had been forced after feeling restricted in
the comments he could make. "The campaign has effectively been consigned to
the backwater of fundraising. I have to be passionate and believe I can
make a difference but I don't feel I can do that because I feel restrained
in what I can say," he said.

Macauley believes he can be more effective from outside the campaign: "My
regrets are that I am letting down the people who have done so much to help
us throughout the country, but I was charged to represent the person in the
street."

Checked-by: Joel W. Johnson