A second deadly wave of addiction

A NEW wave of heroin abuse and addiction is sweeping through Britain. Those injecting, snorting and smoking the drug are no longer restricted to inner-city "smackheads" and junkies.

The sallow-skinned losers depicted in the 1980s "Heroin Screws You Up" campaign are now outdated stereotypes. The new heroin users are younger, more socially diverse, and they can come from almost anywhere in the United Kingdom.

Whereas the heroin outbreaks in the mid-1980s were largely confined to blighted housing estates in Liverpool, Manchester, London and Glasgow, today they are found in towns and cities as varied as Minehead, Torquay, Bristol, Portsmouth, Bradford and Hull. Young people can be found "chasing the dragon" and smoking pounds 10 wraps of "brown" in almost any rural area.

The reason people should be worried, and why the Government is diverting resources towards tackling heroin abuse is that, unlike other more popular drugs, heroin is extremely addictive and is a killer, taking about 200 lives in 1997.

One of last year's heroin victims was Allan Harper, 13,from Glasgow. Although the death of someone so young from an overdose is extremely rare, there has been a series of cases in which children have brought their parents' heroin into school. Last week police in Sheffield disclosed that in the previous month eight people had died from heroin overdoses. All were men, most were in their twenties.

One of the dead was a 20-year-old student at university. He came from a supportive background, he was doing well with his studies, had a girlfriend, and lived in a shared house with other students. He started taking drugs and moved on to heroin. His work and relationships began to suffer, then one morning his housemates found him dead in bed, from the heroin overdose.

The city has had 17 heroin deaths so far this year compared with 25 in 1998, but as Detective Chief Inspector Steve Wyatt, head of South Yorkshire Police's drugs squad, stressed: "Sheffield's heroin problem is no worse than anywhere else. This is happening throughout the country." He added: "This drug is being used by a whole range of people. Many of the people found dead in Sheffield were discovered in their bedrooms by their parents."

In Bristol there have been 11 deaths from heroin overdoses since February, with nine in a a grim two and a half weeks. Last month also saw six heroin deaths in Norfolk - four in Great Yarmouth and two in Norwich. No common cause has been discovered. Previous theories that batches of very pure heroin were responsible have been discounted.

It seems more likely that people are dying because heroin is becoming more available, at a cheaper price and to a wider range of drug-takers, many of whom are relative novices. The popularity of the drug has been greatly enhanced since a rebranding exercise by dealers. Aware of negative "smackhead" and "skag" images, it is frequently called "brown", sold in pounds 10 bags, and promoted as a recreational drug that can be smoked or "chased" - inhaled by burning it on a piece of tinfoil.

There is growing evidence that the age at which people first experiment with heroin is dropping. The number sampling the drug aged 15 or 16, while still only 1 or 2 per cent of the population, appears to be rising. Research for the Home Office has identified the 14 to 25 age group as the most at risk in the new heroin outbreaks, with the average age at about 18.

Tomorrow: How dealers

made heroin sexy again