WNB

We've lost drug war, say parents of Leah Betts
Nicole Martin | Telegraph.co.uk | 11/3/2005

The parents of Leah Betts, who died after taking ecstasy on her 18th birthday, accused the Government yesterday of abandoning its War on Drugs as they ended their 10-year campaign to cut the number of young drug-users.

Paul Betts, 59, who has worked tirelessly to warn young people about the dangers of drugs, said he was "fed up with banging my head against a brick wall and getting nowhere with the people in power".

Speaking 10 days before the 10th anniversary of his daughter's death, he said that the drugs problem had worsened since Labour came to power.

He also accused drugs charities, including Lifeline and Drugscope, of promoting the illegal use of drugs by supporting the Government's reclassification of cannabis as a Class C drug.

"There comes a time when you have been kicked enough times, you stay down," he said. "I feel sorry for young people. This Government is letting them down."

Mr Betts, a former policeman, and his wife, Janet, 57, started their anti-drugs campaign by releasing a photograph of their daughter attached to a ventilator in the hope of warning other young people about the dangers of drugs.

She died when it was switched off five days later.

Mr Betts's comments received a mixed response from other campaigners, and the Home Office said: "Overall use of illicit drugs among those aged 16 to 24 has fallen by 17 per cent since 1998.

"There is a perception that drugs are rife but our drugs strategy is working."

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