NEW DRUGS AIM TO INFORM INSTEAD OF WARN

MINISTERS announced a major U-turn on drugs policy yesterday,
rejecting the traditional Just Say No approach in favour of an
information campaign explaining what drugs are and what they do.

Jim Wallace, the justice minister, conceded that telling young people
not to take drugs had not worked.

Indeed, Mr Wallace claimed the inflexible approach might even have
had the effect of persuading some young people to take drugs as a
form of rebellion .

The new policy, Know the Score, is designed to tell parents and young
people exactly what drugs do and what dangers they pose.

A series of detailed leaflets and booklets have been produced and a
website set up to explain what drugs are available in Scotland, what
they are known as on the street and what the effects are.

However, Mr Wallace denied that the new policy represented an
admission of failure on behalf of the executive.

He said: "I would deny we are going soft but Just Say No has had
little or no impact and may even have had the counter-effect."

And he added: "They are not going to salute the flag and just do it
because they are being told to do it, they will choose healthy
lifestyles because they have the information, the fact-based
information, that shows them that is the course to take."

The =A36 million information strategy is part of the executive=EDs
three-year =A3128 million anti-drugs fund which is being implemented
through drug courts and rehabilitation services.

The three-pronged initiative will target dealers by confiscating
their assets, rehabilitate addicts and provide information for the
public to enable them to make decisions.

Welcoming the strategy, the director of Scotland Against Drugs,
Alistair Ramsay, said: "Old practices like finger-wagging and
sermonising on matters designed to scare young people away from drugs
clearly have not worked."

But the Tories criticised the new approach, claiming the executive
had not given Just Say No a chance to succeed.

The Scottish Tory justice spokesman, Lord James Douglas-Hamilton,
said: "Parents who try hard to dissuade their children from taking
drugs will be dismayed at the executive=EDs climbdown.

"Instead of sticking to the message that drug abuse is dangerous and
stepping up efforts to eliminate it, the executive appears to have
raised the white flag and softened its policy towards drug abuse.

"This short-sighted and irresponsible attitude sends out entirely the
wrong message to our young people."

PARENTS AND DRUGS KNOWING THE SCORE

THE Know the Score literature is probably the most detailed, graphic
and knowledgeable information ever put out by the government to
parents on the subject of drugs.

The parents-pack does not hold anything back. It explains not just
what the drugs do but what the drugs are known as on the street.

The pack also tells parents how to spot the symptoms of drug abuse
and what to do if their child collapses as a result of taking drugs.

The aim is to bridge the generation gap between parents and their
children which often prevents parents from communicating properly
about drugs.

In one concise piece of advice to parents, it states: "There=EDs
nothing worse for a teenager than a parent who tries to be =EBcool=ED or
=EBhip=ED when we almost certainly don=EDt know the name of the latest
drug."

It recommends asking questions, listening and then giving advice
rather than lecturing.

The pack divides the available drugs into stimulants (MDMA, cocaine
and amyl nitrates), depressants, (heroin, methadone and solvents) and
hallucinogens (LSD, cannabis and magic mushrooms), explaining each
one in detail.

=46or instance, it explains how ecstasy, or MDMA, is known as E, love
hearts, doves, rhubarb and custard and disco burger, and that it is
sold in white or brown tablets or capsules.

It sets out the legal penalties for possession and dealing in each
case and offers First Aid advice and support-centre telephone numbers.

The passage on LSD shows the sort of information which the executive
wants to get across to parents.

It states: "Acid is normally sold in small amounts which have been
soaked into blotting paper printed with various designs. When a
person takes it they have hallucinations.

"The way they see, hear and feel the world around them changes both
at the time of taking the drug and in the form of flashbacks
afterwards."