NEW LAW CRACKS DOWN ON DRUG DEALERS

Stiffer jail sentences for pushers who use children . Greater police powers
to detect and detain mules

Drug dealers who target schools or get children to act as couriers
will face stiffer jail terms under a new law which came into force
this week. Police have also been given powers to request x-rays from
suspects they believe may have swallowed cocaine or heroin to avoid
detection. They too could spend more time in prison if it turns out
they did ingest drugs or tried to hide them in their body cavities.

Under the Drugs Act 2005, which came into effect on January 1 2006,
officers can hold suspected drug "mules" for 192 hours, as opposed to
the previous 96 hours, to allow extra time for drugs to pass through
their systems.

The government says the tougher measures are part of a clampdown on
those selling illegal drugs on the streets of Britain. "The damage
caused to individuals and families by drugs can be devastating," said
Paul Goggins, the Home Office minister responsible for drugs policy.

"Drug misuse can ruin lives and we're determined to tackle this by
putting more drug dealers behind bars and getting more addicts into
treatment.

"The new measures will make sure courts are taking into account the
vulnerability of young people when punishing those who target our
schools to sell drugs to children and crack down on those who swallow
or hide drugs to escape justice."

The new legislation amends the 1971 Misuse of Drugs Act to enable
judges to view as aggravating factors the sale of drugs near schools
during school hours or use of under-18s as couriers. Police say
pushers often use younger teenagers to carry drugs, and in some cases
primary schoolchildren. In Gloucestershire, officers came across one
case where a dealer sent his four-year-old daughter out of the house
with a bag of heroin to drop for an addict. Detective Sergeant John
Roberts, head of a Gloucestershire policing priority unit tackling the
drugs problem, said the involvement of such a young child was rare,
but dealers routinely used 12- or 13-year-olds, often their own children.

It was also becoming more common for dealers to carry small wraps of
heroin between their buttocks, known as "plugging", or in their
mouths, so they could swallow them if stopped by police. Police now
have the authority to request that the suspect has an x-ray or
ultrasound scan, and courts will be able to draw their own conclusions
if a defendant refuses.

Huge quantities of drugs are smuggled into the UK every year by mules
paid to swallow dozens of packets of cocaine and heroin, and the new
law allows 192 hours for these to be flushed through their systems.
But campaigners urge the authorities to bear in mind that many of the
women in British prisons for drugs offences are of Caribbean and
African origin and have acted as mules at great risk to themselves
because of poverty at home.