MINISTERS DECLARE 'WAR ON DRUGS' IS OVER

No More 'Just Say No' Campaigns ... Instead, Harm Reduction, Rehabilitation
And Information Will Be The Policy

THIS weekend Scotland's drugs minister has officially declared that the
30-year war on drugs is over. In an exclusive interview with the Sunday
Herald, Dr Richard Simpson, also the deputy justice minister, said: 'The
only time you will hear me use terms such as 'War On Drugs' and 'Just Say
No' is to denigrate them.'

Instead Simpson has pledged to ensure that Scotland's harm-reduction,
methadone, and rehabilitation services are fixed.

Simpson, who was a prison doctor, said: 'I've never used the term 'teach
children how to take drugs', but what I would say is that we need to
provide them with information. We need to say 'we'd rather you didn't take
ecstasy, but if you make that decision, here are the risks'. We have to
give them all the information they need to take responsibility for themselves.

'It's not about us wagging a finger at young people as they won't pay
attention to that -- so it's not worthwhile. We've got to be very realistic
and not say 'you're going to die if you take ecstasy', what we will say is
'some people do die when they take ecstasy but we don't truly know why'.'

He said that 'we can't pretend that we're going to stop the availability of
drugs' or people using drugs, and the concept of 'Just Say No' had
therefore been abandoned for good.

In an another interview, the UK pensions minister Ian McCartney, whose son
died of a heroin overdose because he was not given methadone in jail, told
the Sunday Herald: 'It wasn't a prison sentence he got, it was a death
sentence. There is no sense to the current system. Going to jail harmed my
son and did nothing to address the cause of crime.'

Now he is determined to change the system. 'I'm not just a government
minister,' he said. 'I'm a parent too, and if I thought our strategy was
flawed I wouldn't be part of it. The prevailing attitude both in and out of
government towards addicts has been 'it's all your own fault'. That's why
we have virtually no treatment services and a legacy of 3000 deaths a year.
In 20 years, 60,000 people have died -- that's enough to fill Ibrox
Stadium. That's why we need harm-reduction policies in place.'

His Scottish government colleague Simpson also edged close to support for a
Royal Commission on drugs saying that the debate was 'stifled', and issues
such as legalisation and decriminalisation 'have to be addressed', adding:
'We can't have a genuine debate about these issues because some of the
press turn around and say that's wrong. We need to have that debate, we
need to be more sophisticated about our approach. I think this parliament
has to talk about it much more openly.'

As part of an in-depth Sunday Herald investigation into Scotland's drug
problem, we found that some addicts wait as long as two years to get
methadone. Simpson said there must be 'adequate resources' for all drug
addicts and if services were not improved then 'questions would have to be
asked of local health boards'.

He attacked the jailing of addicts for short prison terms : 'Drug addicts
going into prison and coming back out again is a waste of public money. It
neither addresses their offending behaviour nor does it cut crime. It's
purposeless ... We have our priorities wrong.' He added that he would like
to see 'very, very, very many fewer' addicts going to prison.

He favours exploring the concept of ecstasy testing kits in clubs to reduce
risk. He is unconvinced whether or not cannabis is a gateway drug, adding
that the Executive was less concerned with people possessing illegal drugs
than with them resorting to crime to feed their habit.

Backing David Blunkett's plan to downgrade the criminal classification of
cannabis, he said: 'We need to concentrate on the most dangerous drugs and
that is class-As such as heroin and cocaine. The reason for changing the
classification of cannabis -- if we chose to -- is to send a clear message
about priorities. It says to young people that we recognise that all drugs
aren't the same.

'If we give messages that they are all bad then we will not be believed.
Young people say alcohol causes five times the deaths that drugs do. Last
year there were 1500 deaths due to alcohol and 292 from drugs. From a
criminal point of view young men drinking and becoming aggressive is a
significant problem ... cannabis is not associated with aggression.'

Simpson said he looked on drug addiction as a health problem as well as a
criminal one.