Subj:  Sco: New drug team for schools



Date: Thursday October 29, 1998 



Source: The Guardian, UK





New drug team for schools 

By Gerard Seenan



The Government yesterday moved to calm parental fears in Scotland by

setting up an emergency drugs safety team following an incident in which an

11-year-old boy was found with heroin in a Glasgow school. 



Helen Liddell, the Deputy Scottish Secretary, will head the team which will

aim to ensure local authorities, teachers, pupils and parents know how best

to deal with drug incidents in schools.



An 11-year-old boy was found with 50 wraps of heroin with a street value of

UKP500 in his satchel on Monday. It is still not known why the boy took the

drugs, which were tucked inside a gym shoe, to Craigton Primary School,

Govan, or how he came to have them. But there has been a suggestion that he

took them to school unwittingly and that they belonged to a known drug dealer.



There is no suggestion the boy was dealing drugs in the school, but the

discovery shocked parents. Mrs Liddell said she was taking immediate action

to reassure parents about pupils' safety.



"It is vitally important for parents to know that procedures are in place

in schools to deal effectively with such incidents. This week's incident in

Glasgow appears to have been approached with efficiency and sensitivity by

the school and I commend them for acting swiftly. However, I feel more has

to be done to reassure parents, and that is why I am setting up this team,"

she said.



Government policy is to encourage education authorities and schools to

offer drugs education in schools. In common with all Glasgow primary

schools, pupils at Craigton had regular lessons on the dangers of drugs -

including visits by former addicts.



But there has been criticism in Scotland that agencies funded by the

government are sending out conflicting messages about drugs. Some agencies

preach zero-tolerance to drug use, others offer harm limitation strategies.

The difference has been thought to confuse young people.



The new agency, a collaboration between police and health education

authorities, will help enforce new guidelines issued by HM Inspectors of

Schools yesterday after the Glasgow incident.



Strathclyde's chief constable, John Orr, said that partnership offered the

best chance of tackling Glasgow's drugs problems.



In January, Allan Harper, a 13-year-old from Cranhill, east Glasgow, was

found dead from a heroin overdose. Since then research at Glasgow

University has revealed that one in 10 children in Scotland has taken drugs

before the age of 10. In Scotland, about 400 children in the 11 to 12 age

group have tried heroin.