Schools hire drug workers to help addict pupils age 12

Critics fear scheme risks making substance abuse ‘acceptable’

SCHOOLS are drafting in drug workers to help children as young as 12 cope with their addictions.

As part of a radical pilot scheme, young users will be offered therapeutic and practical support.

Children who admit to taking drugs will be given help to try to make sure their habit does not become ‘problematic’. Pupils who are deemed to be at risk of developing an addiction will be warned of the dangers of getting hooked.

Under the plans, set out by East Lothian Council, parents and carers will be able to access advice services aimed at helping them manage their children’s problem behaviours. Some have welcomed the move towards educating those between the ages of 12 and 19 about the dangers involved in drug dependency.

But critics claim the need for the initiative proves that Scotland has lost its war on drugs.

They fear it could bring the country perilously close to normalising sporadic illegal drug use by focusing only on full-blown addiction. The East Lothian Council programme – which will cost £280,000 – is set to be trialled across high schools over the next two years.

An advertisement seeking an organisation to run the pilot project states: ‘East Lothian Council requires a provider for a Pilot Support Service which will be provided to people aged 12-19 years, attending East Lothian Council high schools, with an emphasis on those who are using or at risk of using drugs and alcohol.’

It adds that interventions will target ‘young people for whom substance use is becoming or is already harmful to themselves and others’.

The advert states the aims of the project are ‘to identify young people whose substance use and resulting behaviour is causing concern’ and also ‘to prevent a young person’s substance use becoming problematic’.

The project comes after figures published last month showed that Scotland has the highest rate of drug deaths in the developed world.

The number of drug-related fatalities rose to a record 1,187 – more than three a day, on average.

Last night Dr Ian Oliver, a former chief constable of Grampian Police, and now a drugs consultant with the United Nations, told how the East Lothian pilot scheme was needed but that any such programme must be properly researched first. He said: ‘Scotland has the worst record in Europe for drugs and the Scottish Government have known about it this the whole time.

‘Suddenly they have had to act on it because everyone knows about the extent of the problem now. If this initiative is done properly and it’s properly researched then it is to be commended. It is great – I am in favour of drug education.’

But Dr Oliver added: ‘It’s naïve and stupid to say that the programme wants to prevent a young person’s substance misuse becoming problematic. It should prevent a young person’s substance abuse, period.

‘Any other message suggests that drugs can’t be that bad.’

Meanwhile, Scottish Conservative equalities spokesman Annie Wells warned that the programme could be seen as a move towards accepting illegal drug use.

She said: ‘Illegal drugs can destroy the potential of a young life and educating teenagers about this is not necessarily a bad idea.

‘But that message must include the fact that drugs are illegal and that they can cause irreparable harm.

‘With drug deaths at a record high it is time for the SNP to admit that their drugs policy has failed.

‘The SNP’s policy of maintenance simply isn’t fixing the problem, addicts need help and support to kick their habits.

‘Parents will be rightly disturbed if this is a move towards increased acceptance of illegal drug use.’

Last night, a spokesman for East Lothian Council said that it was ‘unable’ to comment on the pilot while the authority was still looking for someone to run the programme.

‘Everyone knows about the extent of the problem’