'I'M RELIEVED THE CAT'S OUT OF THE BAG. WE HAVE TO FACE REALITY'

Duncan McNeil outraged politically correct Scotland when he said that
contraception should be put in methadone. The MSP for Greenock and
Inverclyde remains unrepentant, however, about his efforts to stop
harm being done to children. Pointing to the fact that 300 babies a
year are born in Scotland addicted to heroin, and that Greenock and
Inverclyde has the highest mortality rate in the country, he advocates
a policy of tough love to stop drug-addicted mothers having babies in
the first place.

When a methadone user goes to the clinic for their daily prescription,
he argues, there is an opportunity to engage with them; to tell them
about the dangers of getting pregnant, and to show them how to avoid
it.

It is fair to say that McNeil, a grandfather of three, is a humane man
generally unaccustomed to the kind of notoriety which came his way
after his impassioned speech to fellow MSPs earlier this month. He had
previously voiced similar views in a column in his local paper, and
probably underestimated how vociferous the civil-rights lobby would be
against him.

What he also did not anticipate was a remarkable surge of support from
members of the public. McNeil appears to have touched a nerve. "This
thing was going like billy-o," he says, holding up his Blackberry
messager. He scrolls through the e-mails, dozens of them, telling him
he was doing the right thing.

There are messages from ordinary people -- neo-natal nurses,
grandparents who care for the children of their addicted offspring,
workers in the public sector -- and also from highly placed
policy-makers, wishing anonymity. All of them offer overwhelming
support. "That's what sustained me over the days following my speech,
when I was called a Nazi and a eugenicist," says McNeil. "I can't
pretend it was pleasant. Those who prescribe to a freer society were
quick to define me in outrageous terms. Those who squeal about
tolerance can be very intolerant themselves.

"I'm more interested in the opinion of people who have experienced
what I'm talking about. I feel a sense of relief that we have got a
real debate going around the real victims: the children, those who are
in and out of care.

"If it is not appropriate to say those things when I said them, when
is it appropriate to say them? The reality is not hidden: we see these
children. Taxi drivers see it when they pick up the children to take
them to school, because their mother is not able to get out of bed.
The teachers see it. Experts see it. Professor Neil McKeganey [the
Glasgow University drugs expert who says addicts on methadone should
be offered the choice of contraception, but called McNeil's proposal
"unethical and quite possibly illegal"] has seen the threats and
predators these children face in the home.

"I hear of children being held over the banisters in order to get
drugs from the mother. I heard of a P5 child who was taken to jail by
a social worker to see her father, and afterwards, when he gave her a
bar of chocolate, she asked if she could have the silver paper to take
home for her mother to smoke drugs with. That's what we're dealing
with here.

"Neo-natal nurses contacted me to tell me about babies born addicted.
For up to 10 weeks after birth these babies show detox symptoms. They
whine. It's not normal crying, it's a whine. They are prone to
convulsions and breathing problems, sudden infant death syndrome, and
child mortality rates are linked to this.

"God forbid that when they survive they survive into a life well " He
pauses, searching for words. "Well, you simply can't get any more
disadvantaged than these children. We know for a fact that if you grow
up in a family where there is significant serious drug abuse, you are
seven times more likely to become a drug user yourself."

If a child is compromised by life with an addict parent, McNeil
believes there should be intervention. His view is that for too long
we have got the focus wrong in Scotland, prioritising the parents and
not their children. "Language is important," he says. "'Taking away'
children is language focused on the addict. 'Rescuing children' puts
the focus on the victim. I do believe that children should be rescued
from difficult situations, and if they need to go into care with the
wider family then they should."

McNeil says he has dealt personally with relatives, hearing at
first-hand stories "which couldn't fail to make you think hard about
how we break this cycle". He has deep and obvious sympathy for the
many grandparents who have stepped in to care for their grandchildren
in the most trying of circumstances. "I hear of working people
remortgaging their houses to put their son or daughter into a drug
rehabilitation clinic. Their worry and concern is not just about their
own child, but about their grandchild.

"Children are a commodity in this underworld. They represent a regular
income that attracts predators into the home. I can't imagine what
it's like to go to bed at night thinking of your grandchild in those
circumstances, waiting for the knock at the door, desperately
concerned. And that's why I don't regret all this hoo-hah. I feel a
sense of relief that the cat's out of the bag. We have to face these
realities."

His firm belief is that there should be a clear message given to
addicts that getting pregnant during prolonged drug use is not a good
idea. In his blunt way, he sees putting contraception in methadone as
the most practical daily suggestion, though he also accepts this could
be one part of a package of solutions, including long-lasting
contraceptive injections.

Behind the scenes, the MSP -- a former Clydeside shipyard shop steward
- -- has had a lot of support from other politicians. "A number of
politicians have said, privately, 'You are on to something, Duncan.'"
Significantly, though, few have rushed to offer public support.

He doesn't seem to care. "Three hundred babies a year are born in
Scotland addicted to heroin. In Inverclyde and Greenock that figure
has increased by 30% in less than 10 years. In Tayside it has
quadrupled. Think about it." He gives a short, mirthless laugh. "The
children who are now having children don't need any more children to
look after."

He believes health workers would be failing in their duty if a woman
was presented to them with a condition where her child was likely to
be still-born, or miscarried, and they did nothing. This, he argues,
justifies contraception. "In a normal family situation, you can make a
considered choice. But for these women the idea of taking the
contraceptive pill when they can't even remember to get their kids to
school is impossible. We live in a society where there are clear
warnings about the significant damage that smoking does in pregnancy,
or binge drinking. Why not drugs too?"

Did he worry at all about upsetting his Catholic constituents? "I
didn't calculate who would and would not be offended. I didn't go out
to offend anyone," he says. The churches, he says, see all too clearly
the horrors of drug abuse.

He takes a breath. "I realise that most of the debate focuses on the
addict, but here we had a wee bit of space where we could actually
focus on the real victims of drug abuse, those that do not take drugs
themselves. I suppose the test for me, in an emotional way, is: why do
we accept this for other children when we wouldn't accept it for our
own kids? I don't regret what I said.

"Nobody likes to be called a Nazi, but I was sustained by messages of
support from constituents who have experienced the problems
first-hand. They're more important than some of my colleagues who
think we deal with this by curing all drug abuse. I don't think we can
wait that long.

"In parliament last Friday I was accused by Christine Grahame from the
SNP of wanting to chemically sterilise the drug addicts. Saying things
like that creates a climate where this debate needs to be shut down.
It reflects the elitist approach to politics -- they sit in groups and
reaffirm their positions. Anyone else who would tread there is accused
of not understanding . But they actually represent themselves in an
unfavourable light."

McNeil takes heart from Jack McConnell's recent call to end the
presumption that children of drug users should remain with their
parents. And in Hidden Harm -- the Scottish Executive's recent report
on its plans to help children affected by parental drug use -- there
is a great deal to support the thrust of McNeil's campaign. The report
highlights the fact that only a minority of services for substance
users make any provision for their children, and recommends that
reducing harm to children as a result of parental drug abuse should be
the main objective of UK drug strategies. On the contraceptive front,
it makes clear that all GPs with problem drug users as patients should
take steps to ensure they have access to appropriate contraceptive
advice. This should include emergency contraception, as well as
termination services.

Recommendation 25 in Hidden Harm states that contraceptive services
should be provided by specialist drug agencies including methadone
clinics and needle exchanges. Preferably these should be linked to
specialist family planning services able to advise and administer
long-acting injectable contraceptives, coils and implants.

For his part, McNeil wants to push that official line further. Defying
what he openly calls "politically correct Scotland", he says all
things should be considered in order to rescue children. "We are in
serious denial here. Unless we do something, it will get worse," he
says. "I haven't lost a wink of sleep over this because I've got the
backing of people who have witnessed it. In a very real sense we have
to ask more of the addict. It is tough love. Contraception is a
common-sense offering. I think we have a clear responsibility to
pursue this over the longer term.

"I'd like to put this into the policy forum; I'd like to shape policy.
A review of fostering and adoption is coming up. We have to address
this crisis we face, because this is a chronic and relapsing condition
- -- in and out, in and out.

"And people see it. I see it. When I went to get a prescription for my
parents, I saw a man in his 40s getting methadone. Our pensioners see
it. They see people being sick outside the chemist because they can't
hold their methadone down because they're pregnant; they see people
fighting over drugs in the street and the wee baby in a pushchair
sitting looking at them open-eyed.

"And if that's what happening in the street, what's happening in the
home? My God, you wonder."