BLAIR TO APPOINT DRUGS WAR GENERAL by Frank Urquhart And John Penman

TONY Blair will today use his first general election
campaign visit to Scotland to announce the appointment of a
national coordinator to lead the war against drugs in
Britain under a new Labour government.

Mr Blair, who regards the rise in drugrelated crime as
one of the three great evils afflicting society, will use
his trip to Aberdeen to seize the initiative over an issue
which has up until now been outside party politics. The
Labour leader has chosen to make the announcement in the
city which is at the centre of an explosion in heroin
addiction and where 32 young people died from drug
overdoses last year.

To emphasise his commitment, Mr Blair will witness a
drugs awareness class in a local school and meet Grampian's
Chief Constable, Ian Oliver, who has long championed the
appointment of a ministerial "drugs Tsar" to lead the fight
against drugs at Cabinet level.

Last night, there was speculation that Dr Oliver could
be a candidate for the new post, which will be independent
of government agencies.

By making his announcement on the general election
campaign trail, Mr Blair risks breaking the allparty
consensus established by Scotland Against Drugs, the
initiative for which the Scottish Secretary, Michael
Forsyth, enlisted the support of the three party leaders in
Scotland.

In an effort to counter the allegation that he is
hijacking the drugs issue for party political purposes, Mr
Blair and George Robertson, the shadow Scottish secretary,
will not make any announcement of a antidrugs figurehead
specifically for Scotland. But the Labour leader is
determined to take an innovative approach to the menace.
The drugs Tsar would oversee educational initiatives, law
enforcement, probation and social work agencies and would
report to the Prime Minister.

Mr Blair first considered the initiative when he was
shadow home secretary, before he became party leader. He
has since developed the initiative in consultation with
Jack Straw, Labour's home affairs spokesman, and Mr
Robertson.

Dr Oliver will be present when Mr Blair makes his
announcement in Aberdeen, but could not be contacted for
comment last night.

However, in a speech last November he warned that the
Government's strategy for fighting drug abuse in Britain
was too fragmented, under resourced and uncoordinated to
make any real impact.

Efficient law enforcement and severe sentencing were
not enough to combat what Dr Oliver called "the greatest
social evil facing this country since the Second World
War".

It was time, said Dr Oliver, for a USstyle "Drugs
Tsar", with the powers of a secretary of state, to take
command of government policies against drugs across all the
agencies involved. Mr Blair will announce his plan after he
joins pupils at Dyce Academy for a drugs awareness class.
The school is one of the secondaries in Grampian where
children have been taught about the dangers of drugs by a
special team of police officers using new techniques
developed by the force.

Labourcontrolled Aberdeen City Council has also been
leading the fight against drugs at a local level and will
meet on Thursday to endorse a new draft strategy for
tackling the menace throughout the city.

Mr Blair is understood to have been deeply impressed by
the stand taken by both Grampian police and the local
authority in their multidisciplinary approach to the drugs
problem in the area.

Grampian has the highest rate of heroin addiction north
of the Border and is the only force area in Scotland where
seizures of heroin are on the increase.

In another development, the chairman of Scottish
Conservative and Unionist party, Sir Michael Hirst, has
written to Mr Blair challenging him over ten "unanswered"
questions about policy set out in Labour's "Covenant for
Scotland".

Sir Michael said last night: "It seems that neither
George Robertson, Henry McLeish or anybody else in Scotland
is capable of answering questions on U policy. If Labour's Scottish
policies are to have a shred of credibility, Mr Blair must provide
satisfactory answers."