Girl, 11, treated for heroin use

An 11-year-old girl who collapsed at a Scottish school is being treated for the effects of heroin.

The primary school student from Glasgow is the youngest person officially confirmed to have suffered from the effects of the drug, other than babies who suffer withdrawal symptoms from a mother's addiction.

The girl, who has not been named, told doctors she had been smoking the drug for more than two months.

Social services and police have launched an investigation as reports said that the child, a Primary 7 pupil, has admitted buying £10 bags ($26) of the class A drug from a female dealer based at Pollok shopping centre in Glasgow.

The authorities were alerted when the girl appeared to fall asleep in the classroom last week and could not be roused.

A source close to the case told the Sunday Mail: "Initially the teachers thought that she had unwittingly taken drugs somehow. It turned out to be far from the truth - she has been using the drug regularly for weeks.

"It seems this girl is a product of her own environment - she didn't believe that she was doing anything that was out of the ordinary."

Alistair Ramasay, Director of Scotland Against Drugs, said: "There has been a lot of anecdotal evidence suggesting that there are children of this age taking heroin, but this is the first incident that has been officially confirmed.

"We need to make sure that we find ways of targeting young people at risk of drugs, which should not be a witch-hunt against all 11-year-olds.

"Drug use is an emotive issue, but this is a very unusual situation. This girl's medical conditions need to be assessed, then her social circumstances looked at carefully and her personal needs dealt with."

A spokesman for Glasgow City Council said "I can confirm that an 11-year-old child was admitted to hospital on an emergency basis last Wednesday with what appeared to be heroin intoxication.

"We are monitoring the situation and the on-going case discussion will continue today (Monday)."

- INDEPENDENT