DRUG VICTIM'S PARENTS DEFEND DEATH IMAGES

Experts Divided On Whether Shock Tactics Will Deter Young People

The parents of a 21-year-old university dropout who died of a heroin
overdose last night justified their decision to release graphic photographs
of her blackened corpse as part of an educational video.

Pauline Holcroft, the mother of Rachel Whitear, a one-time psychology and
sociology student, who was pictured still clutching the syringe used for
her fatal fix, said: "We realised when we agreed to release them they would
be distasteful to some people but we felt they were a very important part
of the film."

She and her husband Mick, Ms Whitear's stepfather, added that they had been
taken aback by the media frenzy surrounding the photographs, and that they
should be seen in the context of the 22-minute film, which charts the
effect her descent into addiction had on her middle-class family.

"They were a very small part of the story," said Mr Holcroft, of Ledbury,
Herefordshire. "People need to see the whole video. To us these photographs
are not that shocking."

Mrs Holcroft added: "I think we are focusing too much on one small part.
The exposure of these photographs is an important part of the film, but
it's only one part and others are equally important." Poems written by Ms
Whitear as she fought unsuccessfully to over come her addiction were more
emotive.

"The feedback we have got from parents is excellent. Practically 100% of
children said it would make them think they couldn't do this to their
families," Mrs Holcroft said.

As the graphic images were displayed on news stands yesterday, opinion was
divided on whether such shock tactics would work, with some drugs
specialists warning that such images would have little effect on drugs
deaths, which have almost doubled from 864 in 1993 to 1,662 in 2000.

But Paul Betts, who first employed the tactic by releasing a picture of his
daughter Leah, lying in intensive care after taking ecstasy, said there was
no question that such stark images shocked young people from their
complacent belief that they were impervious to the fatal effect of drugs.

"Our release of the picture of Leah and the video we made afterwards has
been hailed by young people as the best drugs awareness information package
they have seen," he said yesterday. "I've been to over 3,200 schools,
spoken to 2.3m young people and 500,000 parents and I've had over half a
million letters from young people who say that, after having heard me,
they're packing up taking drugs.

"While shock tactics won't work for everybody they will work for some and
what we must never forget is that if you just save one person's life, it's
been worthwhile."

The former Met police officer added that he did not regret "for a moment"
releasing Leah's picture after she collapsed after taking the drug on her
18th birthday in 1995.

There was agreement from Rosie Brocklehurst, of Addaction, the national
drug treatment charity, who insisted: "These pictures do have an effect,
because they make people sit up and listen."

Lynn Clare, project manager of the support group Parents Against Drug
Abuse, said: "It has certainly caused a lot of interest here: our phones
have been inundated since early morning. A lot of the time parents will
know something's wrong and not be sure, and this sort of publicity prompts
them to seek help."

Yet she admitted the images themselves - as opposed to the video - would
probably have little effect on their target market: secondary school pupils.

"It probably won't have any more of an effect on children because they
don't equate themselves with this and they tend to think they are fairly
indestructible. When the Leah Betts picture was shown, it caused a lot of
interest but it didn't stop people taking ecstasy," she said.

Herefordshire local education authority - which has produced the video
which charts Ms Whitear's descent to a lonely death in a flat in Exmouth,
Devon - says that students who had seen it had been affected because it
"challenges the stereotypical image of a drug user".

But the drugs charity, DrugScope, yesterday insisted that, while the
Holcrofts' decision was "understandable and very admirable", there was
little evidence that such shock tactics change behaviour.

Statistics from the national crime survey suggest that the number of
ecstasy users rose from 9% of 16-29-year-olds in 1996, the year after Leah
Bett's death, to 12% in 2000, the last available figure, while heroin use
doubled to 2%.

DrugScope's chief executive, Roger Howard, said: "We hope the image will
succeed in changing government policy and encouraging more investment in
treatment and harm reduction initiatives."