THE MOST INNOCENT VICTIMS OF DRUGS

DRUGS are the biggest problem facing Scotland today. Still reading?
There are two reasons why it is tempting to turn away when you
encounter a sentence such as the above: first, it has been uttered so
many times, by so many experts (both genuine and self-appointed) that
it seems trite to the point of meaninglessness; and, secondly, for
many of us there is a tendency to shrug the shoulders and say: "Not my
problem."

But it is our problem. Yes, the worst results of drug-taking are found
among the hopeless in our housing schemes, although the evidence
suggests consumption is rising among middle-class professionals too.
Moreover, drugs affect us all through crime and the cost of dealing
with the problem: the Home Office estimates the average heroin or
crack user earns UKP20,000 through crime every year; the Scots NHS
spends some UKP115m treating addicts annually, while the cost to
industry of drug misuse is put at UKP800m a year across the UK.

And then there are the children. Again, it borders on cliche to say
that "drugs are every parent's worst nightmare", but it is true that
the threat looms large, from the playground peddler to celebrities
such as Kate Moss who give drug-taking a glamorous allure that may
tempt the young. Yesterday, Scotland's newest pop star, Paolo Nutini,
was quoted extolling the pleasures of getting stoned and insisting
there was no danger in doing so. It would be foolish to think that we
can ever stop young people experimenting with drugs, but through
education we can at least warn them of the very real risks of such
behaviour.

The educational approach will not help save some of our youngest
victims of drugs, however: the likes of Alexandra King, the
three-month-old from Larkhall who died of blood poisoning from a rash
because her heroin-addict mother didn't change her nappy; or Scott
Saunders, also two, of Rutherglen, who was locked naked in an unheated
room by his drug-addict mother's partner, beaten and bitten, and left
to die alone weighing less than two stone. The parents of Derek
Alexander Doran, aged two, from Elphinstone, East Lothian, have been
charged with murdering him by giving him the heroin substitute methadone.

Tragic stories such as those of Alexandra, Derek and Scott
understandably grab the headlines, but they are just the tip of the
iceberg. A consultation document for the Drug Treatment and
Rehabilitation (Scotland) Bill published in April estimated that there
are 60,000 children in Scotland living with drug-dependent parents,
and the numbers keep growing. More than 300 babies are born addicted
to heroin and other illegal drugs every year in Scotland.

Many parents who are struggling with their own drug problems do make
heroic efforts to provide a caring family home, but there can be no
denying that thousands of these children are at genuine risk, either
from simple neglect or through direct exposure to drugs. It is such
risks, especially the fear that drug-taking can be passed on from one
generation to the next, that has prompted some radical thinking about
how we should deal with drug addicts and their children.

As we reveal today, Scottish ministers are considering having addicts
sign contracts in which, in return for benefits and addiction
treatment, they agree to bring their drug use under control and also
agree to be randomly drug-tested. Other action could include more
social work intervention, tutors to teach at-risk children in the
home, and a drastic reduction in the time it takes to get a child into
foster care. The suggestion, made by some Labour backbenchers, that we
go even further and try to prevent addicts having children at all
takes the debate to its logical limit, but in the final analysis it
would be impossible to enforce such a plan.

They are correct, however, to conclude that much tougher action is
needed if we are ever to break the miserable cycle of drug-taking, and
that we must focus less on the human rights of addicts and more on
those of the children they bring into the world, often unwittingly as
a result of their chaotic lifestyles. The only question is how far we
want to go.