ANOTHER STATISTIC AND ONE MORE SHATTERED FAMILY

Strathclyde drug deaths take on epidemic proportions

Linda and Jim Gibb prayed and believed that their son was no longer
addicted to drugs.

They discovered last Christmas he was using heroin but supported him
through what they thought had been a successful methadone programme. But
instead of being weaned off the drug, 19-year-old Brian died this week,
becoming another statistic.

The rising death toll among drug users in Strathclyde meant little to the
Gibbs until Tuesday night. That was when the policeman at the door broke
the news that Brian was dead. The results of a post mortem examination have
yet to be confirmed but it is believed drugs were the major cause.

As they grieve in their Renfrew home, the Gibbs will mourn for the loss of
their son who will never see his three month-old daughter, Rachel, on whom
he doted, grow up.

But to the police, drugs agencies and Government officials, Mr Gibb's death
meant something else. As the 51st person to die as a result of drug abuse
in Strathelyde this year, his death is a chilling statistical landmark.
That figure is equivalent to the drugs death toll for the region in the
whole of 1997. If drugs continue to claim lives at the same rate, more Than
100 drug victims will die in Strathclyde this year - a 100 per cent
increase on last year's toll.

Speaking on behaf of the family. Mr Gibb's uncle Robert Adam, said: "It
seems that nobody is doing anything to help. The politicians talk and talk,
about policies and plans. They waltz in and meet people with drug problems,
then disappear. But when it comes to putting up the money and sorting this
problem out, it obviously isn't happenng.

"So long as it is. not in the politicians' own back yard they can turn a
blind eye. Not one of them has lived at close quarter with the emotional,
spiritual and physical horrors of drug abuse."

Mr Adam, who has worked closely with recovering alcoholics, is aware of the
problems and patterns of addictions.

Despite this none of Mr Gibb's family was aware he was still taking drugs.

The family first discovered he was using heroin last Christmas, but
supported his determination to beat his addiction when he began a methadone
programme.

In April, he was jaled for three months afier being convicted of concealing
an offensive weapon - a crime his mother insists he did not commit. On
going to jall he found methadone was not available, but welcomed the drugs
ban as an opportinity to "come out clean".

When Mr Gibb left prison on 29 May his parents believed he had conquered
his addictiction. Drug workers and Scottish Office officials cannot explain
why he went back on drugs any more than they can answer the questions of
the relatives of the other 50 drug users who have died in Strathclyde this
year.

Joseph Foy, 19, of Uddingston became victin number 50 when he was found
dead under a bridge on the Clyde near the centre of Glasgow last week,
Another sad statistic was Kelly Heaney, 18, the daughter of an affluent
Bearsden family, who also died of a suspected drugs overdose last week.

The year started in particularly tragic fashion, with the death of Allan
Harper, 13, from a heroin-type substance. His body was found on 3 January
in the home of his mother's boyfriend in Cranhill, Glasgow.

By February police had pinpointed cheap heroin flooding the country as the
source of the high death rate. They were forced to admit that police drug
raids were having little effect in stemming the lethal tide.

As Brian Gibb's uncle said last night: "If it was drugs which killed Brian,
and if any good can come out of his death. I just hope is that somethig is
finally done to make sure nobody else dies Something certainly has to be
done in Strathclyde."

Checked-by: (Joel W. Johnson)