By Jamie Black

THE FATHER of a five-year-old Dundee boy who came home from school with a bag of speed has branded proposals to force drug addicts to stop having children as “venturing into Nazism.”

The comments are a response to Labour MSP Duncan McNeil’s suggestion that addicts should sign a contract agreeing not to have children until they are free of their habit.

The policy was recommended for Labour’s new manifesto for next year’s Holyrood election, as a way of dealing with the country’s drug problem.

Scotland has around 50,000 addicts, and the recent case of a Dundee child who carried amphetamine home from Mossgeil Primary School in May is one of many reports that have prompted a controversial debate about children growing up in a drug-using environment.

Mr McNeil, who has already come under criticism by calling for contraceptives to be put in methadone, has said that there is too much focus on the rights of users overlooking their responsibilities. “These responsibilities are either non-existent or entirely unknown to those supposedly subject to them,” he said.

Mr McNeil recommended a social contract that would ensure addicts sign up to a drug cessation programme before being allowed to have children.

If they agree to this they will get benefits, methadone and housing, but face having these withdrawn if they breach it by having a family, a report claims. They also face having their children taken into care.

The plans have been attacked by social workers and drugs agencies for proposing a violation of human rights.

The father of the child found with amphetamine said the plans go further than neglecting addict’s rights.

“I think that it is the parent’s responsibility to not leave these substances lying around within the reach of kids,” he said.

“If the parents want to use drugs they should make sure they are not available to children. But I think that forcing them to not have children is venturing into the realms of Nazism.

“We should be trying to target this problem at the source instead of focusing on the victims of addiction.

“The problem is making sure we get these drugs off the street and stopping them being imported into the country. It is the job of the social work and the police to try to get rid of drugs altogether, and stop any danger for our kids. We need to get rid of the drug culture, rather than talk in sound bites.”

A Labour Party spokesman said last night that the submissions would be made to the party’s policy forum before the elections next year.

“This is Duncan’s submission to that. It’s the individual view of Duncan McNeill MSP, but that’s got as much legitimacy as anyone else’s view.”

The spokesman said Labour was committed to addressing the issue and that there was the potential for it to become party policy. “Over the past few years, we’ve a fairly strong record in tackling drugs and anti-social behaviour. This is one suggestion that will be considered.”

A spokesman for the Scottish Drugs Forum said, “There is a vicious tenor to these proposals and the apparent hypocrisy surrounding them is deeply disquieting.

“What’s proposed dehumanises people who are in need of help and support simply because their problems are seen as too difficult and complex for society to deal with.”

Scottish Tory leader Annabel Goldie said, “I am glad to see that somebody in the Labour Party has woken up to the Executive’s disastrous handling of the drugs issue in Scotland.

“However, the solutions on offer today are far from perfect—they run the risk of treatment being withdrawn from an addict who is otherwise recovering. That is not in the best interests of anyone.

“A far more comprehensive package of measures is needed—one that starts with a zero-tolerance approach from government and the overdue publication of a rehabilitation places directory.”

The SNP’s deputy justice spokesman Stewart Stevenson said, “It is not only desperate but unworkable.

“It will drive addicts out of the system and create greater problems. Addicts live chaotic lives and would be likely to sign anything if they thought it would get them the help they wish.”