Pressure on Dewar to sort out Scotland Against Drugs

Scotland Against Drugs, the troubled allparty camapign that is spending
UKP4m of public money, is to be revamped.

The move will follow sharp criticism of its contraversial tactics by
chief constables and medical experts. Scottish Secretary Donald Dewar is
planning to overhaul the initiative launched just 18 months ago as a
Scotlandwide antidrugs 'crusade'.

David Macauley, SAD's outspoken campaign director, is likely to be
ousted during the shakeup. The group will be warned to tone down its
"alarmist" advertsising campaigns and avoid "moralistic" attacks on
people with less strict views on drugs.

Members of the Association of Chief Police Officers in Scotland have
raised various criticisms of SAD during a private meeting with Dewar.

ACPOS secretary Roy Cameron, the Lothian and Borders chief constable,
told Scotland on Sunday that SAD had outlived its usefulness and should
be replaced as part of an urgent review of Scottish drugs policy.
Cameron, a member of SAD's advisory council, said some SAD
advertisements fuel the public's fear of crime. He singled out a current
SAD commercial, showing an addict breaking into an elderly woman's home
and stealing her television.

"It's striking. But does it raise awareness [of drugs]? Does it promote
a proactive view on drugs? Or does it in fact create a fear of house
breaking rather than a fear of drugs?" he said.

"I doubt that the balance is right. In a world where recorded crime is
coming down, care needs to be taken about how you communicate these
messages or they might be counterproductive."

Cameron also upbraoded Macauley for his repeated knocking of 'harm
reduction', the governemntbacked policy of treating addicts widely used
in Scotland. ACPOS supported 'harm reduction' as a helpful way of
dealing with the drugs problem.

Members of SAD's advisory board council have also voiced alarm at
current tactics to Dewar.