Subj: UK: Sco: Expert proposes different strategy on drugs



Date: 3 Nov 1999



Source: The Herald (UK)





Expert proposes different strategy on drugs

AINE HARRINGTON 



Scotland faced calls yesterday to review its drugs policy 

after a leading UN expert said prevention rather than 

policing was the way forward.



Dr Sandro Tucci, a top United Nations drug and crime 

prevention expert, warned that education and prevention was 

the way to beat the drug abuse problem.



His comments led Professor Neil McKeganey of Glasgow 

University's centre for drug misuse research to call for a 

new approach to funding the fight against drugs.



Vienna-based Dr Tucci was speaking at the university at the 

start of a round of meetings with law enforcement, 

government, drugs, and social work officials.



He said: "Enforcement is never enough. The key to success is 

demand reduction and that goes through education and not 

enforcement. With all my respect to law enforcement 

authorities, who are certainly doing a wonderful job and 

doing their best, to hope to solve this problem through law 

enforcement alone is probably not giving the correct answer 

to a complex problem."



The Scottish Executive currently spends four times more on 

law enforcement than on education, prevention, and care in 

its battle against drug misuse.



Professor McKeganey said: "If we are to decrease drugs use 

in Scotland, which is a reasonable thing to aim for, we 

really do need a reassessment of the relative balance of 

expenditure, with a much greater input in terms of 

treatment, prevention and research."



Mr Alistair Ramsey, director of Scotland Against Drugs, 

said: "There can never be enough money to tackle this 

problem equally on all the fronts necessary. But there are 

merits in changing the emphasis away from enforcement to 

education."



But Tory home affairs spokesman Phil Gallie last night said: 

"The best form of drug prevention is law enforcement. I 

don't think education to any extent really works and Dr 

Tucci should spell out exactly what he means by treatment."