Teenage addiction to heroin is rising

THE agenda for Keith Hellawell will be shaped by Home Office drug figures
published yesterday. They revealed a 17 per cent increase last year in
heroin and cocaine addicts and evidence of growing teenage addiction.

The number of addicts registered and receiving treatment now stands at
43,400. The true total is probably more than 150,000. Many addicts do not
reach the National Health Service until they can no longer cope with
feeding their habit or are arrested. Once registered there are still too
few places offering full treatment.

The figures also show that the number of new addicts aged under 21 rose
last year by 35 per cent to 3,984 and most are hooked on heroin. Methadone
is offered on the NHS as an alternative drug to heroin, but the figures
show that there is growing addiction to it and that it is being sold on the
black market.

After more than a decade of publicity and education aimed at curbing hard
drug use, Mr Hellawell will face decisions about a new education drive.
There are now at least four million cannabis users, including children as
young as 13 or 14, and he must advise the Government on how to approach
this problem as new pressures emerge for a relaxation of the law.

Mr Hellawell's previous job as national police spokesman on drugs will have
prepared him for the role. Regional crime squads now spend 75 per cent of
their time fighting the drug gangs. Last year customs officers seized a
record 79 tonnes of drugs worth £500 million. Police squads made a 41 per
cent increase in heroin seizures and the drug is now flooding into Britain
through Turkish gangs. In Mr Hellawell's own force the drug was being sold
for as little as £10.