Tuesday, May 25, 1999 Published at 10:55 GMT 11:55 UK
Heroin 'epidemic' in rural Britain
Rural towns have reported drug abuse on an unprecedented scale
Experts have warned of a heroin "epidemic" in the UK as the drug becomes more cheaply and easily available in both inner cities and rural areas.
Experts say that every six months there is a 9% increase in addicts seeking help and, perhaps more tellingly, that the profile of the typical user is changing.
In April, six drug users died in Norwich in one week in overdoses linked to a lethal form of heroin known as "China white".
Ignorance about addiction
One client, who did not want to be named, said there is an "epidemic" in the city - and put this down to the drug being "cheap and available".
Drugs czar Keith Hellawell and other experts also attribute the growing use of the drug to its decreasing price - and lack of drug knowledge among young people.
Suppliers even offer the "first wrap" of heroin free, and convince their new young customers that the drug is no more harmful than ecstasy or cannabis.
This appears easy to do, experts have noted. Many of the new users were not fully aware of the addictive nature of heroin.
A spokeswoman for Stratford Parents Support Group said some teenagers were not even aware what they were smoking: "They are simply offered 'brown', which they assume is cannabis", she said.
Fear of Aids, which used to put adolescents off the drug, is receding as young people increasingly smoke, rather than inject, heroin.
And the image among middle-class youths of heroin as a highly-addictive drug used only by "junkies" has changed on the back of growing recreational use of drugs such as ecstasy.
Campaigners say schools must respond to this changing culture, with improved drugs education programmes.
Heroin should be treated differently from other drugs, they say - and the message "just say no" should be put across unequivocally.