POLICE WANT HEROIN PRESCRIBED

A radical scheme to prescribe and administer heroin to addicts in strictly
controlled "shooting galleries" could be put to the test as early as next
year to break the cycle of drug-induced crime.

The Association of Chief Police Officers (Acpo) will announce a fundamental
shift in policy next month and propose a trial period for the project. Acpo
members argue that the move would allow law enforcement agencies to focus
on finding the prime movers behind the multibillion-pound criminal industry
rather than individual addicts.

Research has found that a serious heroin user needs UKP100 a day to finance
the habit and as much as 70 per cent of property crime could be committed
to fund addiction. The test period for the scheme, if successful, could
lead to the mass prescription of the class-A drug on the NHS for the
estimated 50,000 addicts in Britain.

The scheme, which would not require a change in the law, would be operated
from specialist units in police stations, GP surgeries and hospitals, and
has been approved in principle by Sir David Phillips, the Acpo president. A
source close to Sir David said of the proposed move: "We need to move
towards the managed stabilisation of addicts. This is common sense to most
people: the alternatives, such as prison, are no longer realistic."

The proposal stems from research in 1999 by Cleveland Police. The findings
of that inquiry, led by Chief Constable Barry Shaw, advocated a fresh
approach to the war on drugs.