All public sector workers should be subject to random drug testing, according to the head of one of Scotland's most influential police bodies. Chief Superintendent Valerie McHoull, president of the Association of Scottish Police Superintendents, yesterday called for testing to try and curb demand for illicit drugs. Last month, senior police officers revealed random testing is to be introduced to Scotland's eight police forces to try to eradicate substance misuse. "This is not just a police issue, this is a societal issue and it is something that you might consider progressing across the whole public sector.

"If all organisations, public and private, including ultimately universities and sports clubs, introduced testing perhaps we could make more of an impact in the war against drugs - from the demand end rather than supply. "Had the private sector had mandatory or even possibly optional drug testing a decade ago then the proliferation of cocaine use among young professionals might have been averted."