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Mother attacks `safe' drug-taking

Monday 23 June 1997 23:02 BST
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The mother of a 13-year-old boy thought to have died after taking ecstasy yesterday launched an attack on drugs.

Phyllis Woodlock, whose son Andrew died on Thursday, has said: "I am fed up hearing middle-class drug workers saying there is a safe way to take drugs - tell that to my Andrew."

Mrs Woodlock, of New Stevenston, Lanarkshire, addressed a news conference in Glasgow to coincide with the launch of Scotland's National Drugs Awareness Week.

A survey published to coincide with the campaign says 32 per cent of Scottish adults have tried illegal drugs, and 15 per cent have done so within the past six months. The most common use by far was cannabis, with 30 per cent of respondents saying they had tried it.

Andrew's death, in the run-up to the week-long campaign, has prompted fresh argument about the wisdom of promoting "harm reduction techniques", seen by supporters as more realistic than a "don't take drugs" approach.

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