METRO Wednesday, September 30, 2009 D Potter author denied award over sorcery AUTHOR JK Rowling was denied the USs highest civilian honour because members of the Bush administration believed Harry Potter encouraged witchcraft, a new book claims. Matt Latimer, a former speech writer for George W Bush, states in Speechless: Tales Of A White House Survivor that officials objected to the authors perceived promotion of sorcery. As a result, her name was not included amongst those receiving the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Its not the first time Ms Rowlings writing conflicted with the American right. In 2007, Fox Newss Bill OReilly hit out at the author for announcing that Harry Potter character Dumbledore was gay. He called her a provocateur, adding that the outing was part of a liberal indoctrination of children. MENU The Home Digest 4 Guilty Pleasures Celebrity gossip 6 World Digest 10 MetroLife Arts and entertainment 12-13 60 Second Interview Actor Robert Downey Jr 14 TV 14-15 Puzzles & Letters 16-17 Classifieds 18-20 Sport 21-24 Help keep Dublin clean and tidy for everyone by taking your Metro with you and recycling it TODAY: Overcast, breezy and mild with some rain. Max: 16C TOMORROW: Bright and fresh with the odd shower. Max: 14C METRO Weather Heroin respects no borders and us- ers are now to be found in all areas from Ballyshannon to Ballydehob. Cities such as Cork and Waterford that might have been considered rela- tively unscathed five years ago now have significant problems. Heroin use is a national crisis, he said. Mr Geoghegan called the Govern- ments new National Drugs Strategy short-sighted as there are no commit- ments for resources. British research shows that for eve- ry 1 spent on drug treatment, 3 is saved in terms of social, health and criminal justice related expenditure. We would ask that Government bears in mind the fact that early and effective intervention is the most cost effective way of addressing the drugs problem, he added. Merchants Quays report for 2008 showed 5,286 people sought help last year. Of those, 942 were new clients at needle exchange services almost 20 new injectors a week over the year. While the Government has set aside 1.1million to develop clinics in Lim- erick, Cork, Waterford, Enniscorthy, Drogheda and Dundalk, Drugs Min- ister John Curran accepted waiting times for treatment for addicts needs to be addressed. Mr Curran also claimed 270mil- lion was being spent across depart- ments in the national drugs strategy. 20 new addicts a week as heroin crisis growsBY ED CARTY THE Government was yesterday ac- cused of abandoning drug addicts af- ter one of the countrys leading treat- ment clinics warned 20 new users sought help every week last year. Merchants Quay Ireland said more than 5,000 people attended its needle exchange centres as the State faces a heroin crisis. Catherine Byrne, Fine Gael spokes- woman on drugs, said the figures were frightening: Any available funding must be put to the best use and show positive results. There are many things the country cannot afford and one of them is an- other failed drugs strategy, she said. Jack Wall, Labour drugs spokes- man, urged the Government to spend money now rather than dealing with crime, poverty and family breakdown caused by heroin addiction. The Government should take on board, not just the cost of improving services in this sector, but also the cost of not improving them, he said. Merchants Quay said it has been of- fering help to addicts in Carlow, Of- faly, Laois, Westmeath and Longford as well as its main Dublin base. Tony Geoghegan, the clinics chief executive, called for a national net- work of crisis, treatment and family support services. The business of science BT is to expand its Young Scientist & Technology Exhibition to include a new programme that will provide students with the opportunity to turn their ideas into commercial opportunities. Celebrating the news with Tnaiste Mary Coughlan were Chris Clark, CEO BT Ireland, Sophie Kirwan from Swords, Jamie McCann from Beaumont, Lily OShaughnessy from Donabate and Conor Philips from Rathfarnham Picture: Fennells BA aims for luxury flight profits within yearTHE FIRST flight of a new British Airways luxury trans-Atlantic service took to the air yesterday with the airline confident that it can succeed where others have failed. Operations by other airlines trying out all-business class services to America collapsed after just a few months. But BA chief executive Willie Walsh, who was on the flight from London City Airport to New York via Shannon, said he was confident the new operation would be almost immediately profitable. He was one of just 32 passengers onboard a specially converted Airbus A318 aircraft which will be offering, initially, luxury travel between London and New York with one return flight a day, moving to two a day from mid-October. The outgoing flight from London City has to refuel at Shannon Airport as the London City runway is too short to handle an A318 with a full fuel load. But BA is hoping that the time lost can be made up by using the Shannon stop to get passengers through US customs and immigration while they are on the ground in Ireland. Initially, passengers are paying around 2,000 for a return flight. Mr Walsh said: This really is an exciting day. This is innovation. This is what you expect from BA. We believe this service is going to be fantastic and that it will be profitable within the first year of operation. earthquake causes huge tsunamis A POWERFUL 8.0 magnitude earthquake generated 6m (20ft) Pacific tsunamis last night, killing an unknown number of people in American and Western Samoa and sending others fleeing for higher ground. An official of the US National Park Service said there had been deaths in American Samoa, but there was no word on how many. Similarly, a police spokeswoman in nearby Western Samoa said a tsunami had killed a number of people there. I can confirm there is damage, I can confirm there are deaths and I can confirm there are casualties, the spokeswoman said. A tsunami was observed at Apia, in Western Samoa, and at Pago Pago, in American Samoa, according to the West Coast/Alaska Tsunami Warning Center. The centre issued a tsunami warning for New Zealand, Fiji amd Tonga. DRuG GenDeR GaP closinG WOMEN are becoming more vulnerable to drugs and alcohol, research has found. Although more men than women misuse drugs and alcohol in Ireland, the gender gap is closing among younger women. According to reports by the Womens Health Council, binge drinking is slightly more common among girls, and girls and boys are now equally likely to misuse opiates and cannabis. These figures obviously give rise to concerns about the health and well-being of women, and may suggest that drug and alcohol issues will be larger for women in the future, said council director Geraldine Luddy. Ms Luddy said that women have different patterns of substance misuse than men, being more likely to misuse prescription drugs, such as anti- depressants or sedatives, than males. 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