SCOTS ANTI-DRUGS GROUP'S FUNDING SLASHED

THE official Government anti- drugs campaign group, Scotland Against Drugs,
has had its advertising and campaigns budget slashed from 2 million to
500,000 in a move which will see its role change dramatically. The Scottish
Office has also sacked the group's 32-strong advisory committee of
celebrities, media representatives, businesspeople and three drugs experts,
and will replace them with a slimmed down panel of six.

In a fundamental change of role, SAD will now move away from conducting
media awareness campaigns in order to focus on fund- raising.

The former committee chairman, the Kwik-Fit entrepreneur Sir Tom Farmer,
has agreed to stay on as the chairman of the new panel, but will in future
be supported by a vice-chairman who is a drugs policy professional from one
of Scotland's local drugs action teams. SAD will remain a cross-party
campaign, but Scotland's four political leaders will no longer sit on its
advisory panel.

Announcing the changes yesterday, the Scottish Secretary, Donald Dewar, did
not refer to the controversy which engulfed SAD last June, when its
flamboyant campaign director, David Macauley, accused harm reduction
groups, which advise young people on safer drug use, of "peddling death" -
even though SAD itself funded several such groups.

Neither did Mr Dewar mention the tensions caused among Scotland's
anti-drugs bodies by SAD's costly and outspoken media advertising
campaigns, accused by some of needlessly scaring the public with shock
tactics and of repeating the failed "just say no" policies of the 1980s.

The tension and controversies are widely thought to have contributed to
Labour's decision to reform SAD. Yesterday, the Scottish Office health
minister, Sam Galbraith, said simply that the overhaul had been a manifesto
commitment, and would have happened whether the criticism had occurred or
not.

Both Mr Galbraith and Mr Dewar paid tribute to what SAD had achieved in its
first two years of existence, while making it plain that in future SAD's
efforts would switch away from advertising to concentrate on fundraising.

Mr Dewar said: "The campaign's efforts to raise awareness of the scale of
drugs misuse in Scotland have made their mark. Tom Farmer and his team,
helped by advisory council members and others, deserve credit for that. The
emphasis must now be on community effort to prevent drug misuse, and help
those affected by it.

We are looking for dynamic community action, and projects on the ground
that have the full backing and involvement of local agencies and businesses.

"As the business arm of Scotland's drugs prevention efforts, SAD will make
a distinctive contribution to tackling drugs misuse."

The massive financial cut represents a 75 per cent reduction in SAD's 2
million advertising and campaigns budget for 1997-98 to 500,000 in 1998-9.
In future the Health Education Board will lead awareness-raising campaigns.

But SAD's 500,000 funding for the Challenge Fund - by which businesses are
encouraged to match Scottish Office grant pound for pound to spend on
anti-drugs work in the community - remains untouched, and will in future be
the most important aspect of SAD.

Mr Dewar guaranteed to maintain the level of SAD's grant for three years,
allowing the organisation to plan more than one year ahead for the first
time in its stormy two years.

The much-criticised name - SAD - will also remain, as Mr Galbraith said it
had become well-known and was recognised by the public.

Mr Macauley, who will remain at SAD under the altered title of executive
director, declined to comment on the changes.

Privately, it is understood that the SAD team are furious at the cuts, and
say that without high profile advertising they will not be able to persuade
businesses of the calibre of Marks & Spencer and Scottish Widows to donate.
There was also anger that, in an implied snub, the announcement was made
the day the UK drugs tsar Keith Hellawell was in Scotland for a Scottish
Advisory Council on Drugs meeting.

Jack Irvine, a PR consultant who has worked on SAD's advertising campaigns,
would not comment on budget changes but said staff remained 100 per cent
committed.

Opposition politicians also declined to criticise the body they have
supported since its inception.

Jim Wallace, the leader of the Scottish Liberal Democrats, endorsed Mr
Dewar's decision to cut the advisory committee, and added: "I particularly
feel that the role which SAD has played in relation to Challenge Funding
for drug-related projects has been very valuable. The fact that the funding
is now on a three-year footing should give SAD a secure base on which to
support legislative projects."