Tackling scourge of drugs

The two-year-old who mimes how to make a heroin "wrap" at nursery is a disturbing but timely reminder of just how vital it is that we get drugs policy right. A re-evaluation of drugs policy was one of the measures won by the Conservatives in return for supporting the SNP's Budget. The Tories' view is that rehabilitation programmes leading to complete abstinence will be more effective than long-term methadone prescriptions. The announcement of a review by Audit Scotland on the effectiveness of the money spent on different drugs services, therefore, is a welcome step that should provide some objective measure of different policies, which tend to polarise opinion.