DRUG FATALITIES LEAP 37% WITH AT LEAST ONE DEATH EVERY DAY

SCOTLAND'S death toll from drugs has reached record levels and there
is no sign of any slowdown.

Official figures published yesterday show a 37 per cent rise in the
number of addicts killed by drugs last year and a 7 per cent rise in
the number of deaths among recreational users.

The total number of drug deaths - 421 - was 10 per cent above the
highest previously recorded total of 382 in 2002, and is equivalent
to more than one death per day.

Experts and politicians called for a radical overhaul of Scotland's
drug policies in the wake of the figures from the Registrar General
for Scotland.

Kenny MacAskill, the justice secretary, admitted that the report was
"extremely concerning" and promised a fresh look at the drugs issue.

A total of 280 addicts were killed by their habit in Scotland in
2006, a rise of 76 on 2005, and another 141 people, who were not drug
dependent, died from overdoses - a rise of nine on the previous year.

Particularly worrying is the rate at which drug addicts are now dying
compared to the situation just ten years ago.

In 1996, there were 244 drugs deaths in all categories, of which 175
were addicts.

The authorities will also have been alarmed by the continuing rise of
deaths involving hard drugs. In 1996, heroin and morphine were
involved in just 84 deaths. By last year, these drugs were involved
in 260 deaths - a new record.

But there has also been a steady rise in fatalities involving other
drugs. Methadone was involved in 97 deaths last year and diazepam in 78.

Cocaine and ecstasy were involved in 33 and 13 deaths respectively,
but in many cases drugs were found in combination - 19 of the 33
cocaine deaths also involved heroin, morphine or methadone.

David Liddell, director of the Scottish Drugs Forum, said the rising
death rate reflected the cross-generational nature of drug dependency today.

He said: "We have a wide range of people with a drug problem now,
including people in their fifties. These people have been using for
20 years or more and their health has potentially been significantly
damaged - possibly with hepatitis C or with liver damage".

Mr Liddell said that the only effective way to tackle the problem was
with a "step change" in the amount of money being invested in
rehabilitation and other services for addicts.

He said: "We are spending maybe UKP1,000 to UKP2,000 on drug
treatment for each individual. We need to spend between UKP7,000 and UKP10,000.

"We need to provide people with an incentive, to support and
encourage them and show them there is a life worth living beyond drug use."

Tom Wood, the chairman of the Scottish Association of Drug and
Alcohol Action Teams, said the future was bleak, for the short term,
because of the large number of people with long-running addictions.

He said: "Hardly any of these people are dying because of what they
did on the day they died; they are dying because they have been
living that way for the last ten, 15 or even 20 years."

But Mr Wood said there was now some evidence that 14- and
15-year-olds were making "much more mature" choices about drugs and
that gave a "glimmer of hope" for the future. He added that drug
action teams were getting better at targeting those most at risk now,
which he also hoped would save lives.

Some 162 of the deaths, or 38 per cent of the overall total, were in
the Greater Glasgow and Clyde health board area.

This was an increase of 51 on 2005 - but Grampian's total death toll
more than doubled, from 23 to 47.

Lothian, however, saw a reduction in its annual total from 57 to 46.

The national figures also showed there had been a sharp fall in the
number of deaths linked to temazepam, and while the number of deaths
involving cocaine rose to a high of 44 in 2005, it fell back last year to 33.

Ecstasy was involved in 13 deaths last year, compared with ten the
previous year and 20 in both 2001 and 2002.

Mr MacAskill called drug abuse "perhaps the most significant social
problem of our time".

"We need to improve access to effective treatment and care and get
better at educating our young people about the dangers of drug
misuse, providing support and protection for those affected by their
parents' habits," he said.

"Our new strategy must tackle demand as well as supply and we will
place renewed focus on education, tough enforcement, and a new
emphasis on diversion and prevention by offering more young people
opportunities in sports and the arts to build self-esteem."

The Conservatives called the figures "deeply depressing and
chilling", and the Scottish Tory leader, Annabel Goldie, demanded a
better approach to rehabilitation.

She said: "We need a clearer strategy which rehabilitates those
caught up in a life of drugs and helps them on the way to abstinence,
whilst at the same time adopting a zero-tolerance attitude to drugs
and especially towards drug dealers."

The Lib Dem health spokesman, Ross Finnie, said: "For those who use
drugs, we need more early intervention to help them get off the
habit. There also needs to be a renewed effort against dealers, large
and small, to get them off our streets."

And Hugh Henry, for Labour, said: "These figures paint a disturbing
picture and it is clear measures already in place are not addressing
all the issues. If the issue is about more resources then Labour will
back the Executive if it wants to make more money available.

"But I suspect this is about more than just money and what is really
needed is a radical rethink by experts in the field. Every drug death
is a needless loss and a tragedy to that person's family."

Stephanie, Precious Daughter and Much-Loved Sister and Friend, Taken
By Lethal Overdose at 15

THE death notice published in a local newspaper described her as "the
most precious daughter", a "much-loved sister" and a "friend of many".

They are words that summed up 15-year-old Stephanie Dyker whose
likeable nature made her a popular pupil at Aberdeen's Torry Academy.

But clouds began to appear on her horizon when she started dabbling with drugs.

Within months, she became one of the youngest Scots to die from an
overdose after succumbing to a deadly cocktail of substances taken at
a flat in April last year.

Her mother, Gwen Hardie, said last night:

"My family has been devastated by this and it is something we will
never get over. Stephanie was a lovely, beautiful person with her
whole future in front of her and we miss her deeply."

The fourth-year pupil was described by one friend as a "beautiful,
lovely girl". A typical effervescent teenager, she enjoyed dancing
and cutting her friends' hair, and would regularly look in on her
elderly neighbour.

It emerged that Stephanie had taken a lethal mix of opiates and
benzodiazepines - prescription drugs such as Lithium or Valium.

A woman appeared in court in connection with her death but charges
were dropped.

Ms Hardie said although it was too late to help her daughter she
believed more should be done to prevent drug deaths. She added: "It
is such a pointless waste of young lives. It's too late for Stephanie
but I wouldn't want anyone else to go through what we have."