MIDDLE CLASSES CRITICISED BY CRIME CHIEF OVER COCAINE USE

SCOTLAND'S drugs chief has launched a withering attack on
"supercilious" middle-class professionals who are fuelling the
country's burgeoning cocaine trade.

Graeme Pearson, director of the Scottish Crime and Drug Enforcement
Agency, condemned the growing number of affluent users whose
arrogance led them to believe they could not be harmed by the drug.

He also criticised the hypocrisy of the drug-using "professional"
class, who were role models for youngsters but who "throw their hands
up in horror" when children are found to be involved in drug abuse.

"There is a whole group among the middle classes and professionals
that is no longer prepared to think through what the issue of
drug-taking is in its fullest," Pearson said.

"They have this idea that they can cope with it. They believe that
the fact that the drug is illegal is nothing to do with them, that
it's actually [illegal] because of cretins like the ones seen in the
film Trainspotting, who can't cope with it. They believe that as they
have money in their pocket and are 'full people' they can step away
from the legal system and use the drug."

Pearson's outspoken attack - his first direct criticism of
middle-class drug users - comes amid a dramatic rise in cocaine use
among Scots. Figures revealed by the Scottish Executive last weekend
showed that cocaine use among so-called professionals in their late
20s and 30s had almost doubled in a year. But the use of the drug has
also grown across all sectors of society.

In January, leading drugs researchers told the Sunday Herald they
believed the rate of uptake had grown so much that cocaine abuse
could overtake heroin abuse in Scotland. Cocaine-related deaths have
jumped almost 10-fold in four years, from four in 2000 to 38 at the
end of 2004.

In the last two months alone in Edinburgh there have been five
suspected cocaine deaths, which last week led to Lothian and Borders
Police issuing a warning about the dangers of the drug.

Cocaine hit the headlines recently after Kate Moss was photographed
snorting the drug. Pearson said that the publicity surrounding the
supermodel - who has signed several multi-million-pound contracts
since being pictured last year - had helped perpetuate the "myth" to
Scots that taking the drug was acceptable.

"Kate Moss the model takes cocaine and makes UKP5 million in
contracts," said Pearson. " But if you're Kate Moss from Easterhouse
you're just going to end up with no job, no future. Nobody is
offering her any contracts.

"There is something superior and supercilious about those who take
the view that although they abuse cocaine, the drug problem is not
about them. If they put powder up their nose they are contributing to
the misery of children who everyone is horrified by when it's found
they have abused drugs. "

With the cost of the drug plummeting over the last five years to
around UKP35 a gram, drug workers were warning last night that
cocaine use among professionals could become a major problem for business.

Alistair Ramsay, chair of Drugwise Ltd, a company which provides
training and advice to business and the education sector, said: "The
next war on drugs will be in the boardroom, not on the streets.
There's a tremendous vulnerability in business. With prices coming
down, availability up and with more disposable incomes, firms will
have to keep a close eye on the effect that drugs are having on their managers.

"There is an arrogance among high earners that they are fire-proof
when it comes to drugs. If you have drugs like cocaine in the
boardroom it could begin to impact on the Scottish economy."