STRAW REJECTS REPORT OF RISE IN DRUGS USE

Hard drugs are damaging more young people than ever, according to a report
by Britain's biggest drugs charity.

Turning Point claims that increasing numbers of teenagers suffer from the
effects of heroin addiction. The charity claims that the number of young
people it treated last year increased by 12 per cent to 29,599, including a
dramatic rise in young women.

Asked about the report, the Home Secretary, Jack Straw, strongly denied
that the Government was losing the war on drugs.

Speaking yesterday on BBC1's Breakfast with Frost, Mr Straw said: "It is
not the case that more and more and more young people are taking drugs.

"The best evidence based on British crime surveys and other very
independently-conducted surveys is that drug-taking among young people is
stabilising.

"There's some evidence to suggest that it had gone down a little."

The report throws a shadow over a white paper, to be published today, which
sets out a 10-year strategy for dealing with drug-taking.

As well as an increase in heroin use, the Turning Point report also shows a
rise in use of ecstasy and cocaine among young people.

Mr Straw did acknowledge that too many young people were trying drugs to
allow any complacency.

"Half of all youngsters have experimented with drugs, and that's far too
high a proportion," he said. The white paper, to be unveiled by the "Drugs
Tsar" Keith Hellawell, will propose counselling together with "healthy
lifestyle" classes for school children.

But at its heart is a compulsory drug testing and treatment order that will
steer offenders who use illicit drugs into treatment. New Home Office
research shows that 63 per cent of all those taken to police stations after
being arrested tested positive for illicit drugs.

Today's white paper says those who are convicted of possessing cannabis
should be referred to counselling, and that hard-drug addicts who steal to
pay for their habits should be sent for compulsory drug treatment.

Ministers insist that the latest American research shows that treatment
programmes do not have to be voluntary to be successful.

But treatment workers fear that the current overburdened network of
treatment services will be overwhelmed by the plan.

Pressure groups yesterday also claimed they will not get the resources they
would need to implement new measures.

Increased spending is unlikely until the Government spending review is
completed later in the year.

Roger Howard, chief executive of the Standing Conference on Drug Abuse,
said the Government had estimated it would cost £40 million to implement
fully the drug testing and treatment provisions contained in the Crime and
Disorder Bill.

The programme is to be introduced with three pilot schemes, the first on
Merseyside, backed by only an extra £1 million of public funds.

"The Government needs to give a clear signal at the launch of the national
drugs strategy that it will go further than just allocating the £1 million
needed to fund three pilot projects.

"The level of drug-related crime indicated by recent Home Office research
and the success of drug treatment means we have to wonder whether £40
million is sufficient to meet the potential need. People going to already
overburdened drug treatment services must not be displaced by those
referred from the courts," said Mr Howard.

Ministers will also come under pressure today from local authority social
services directors, who are pressing for the Government's drugs strategy to
be extended to cover alcohol abuse.