Is he really the man who will change the course of a war, or is Keith Hellawell's appointment as Britain's first drugs czar just a gimmick designed to reassure the public that something is being done?

Certainly, the former Chief Constable of West Yorkshire has a Herculean task: the British are the biggest consumers of illegal drugs in Europe, with as many as 160,000 heroin addicts.

Keith Hellawell took up his post as the UK Drugs Co-ordinator and Special Advisor to the Prime Minister in early 1998.

He was given a deputy in Michael Trace, formerly with the Rehabilitation for Addicted Prisoners' Trust, and the support of a six-strong secretariat, based in the Cabinet Office.

He has moved quickly to focus the government's anti-drugs strategy, which is outlined in a White Paper called Tackling Drugs to Build a Better Britain. The Paper included the proposal that profits seized from convicted drugs barons should be ploughed back into anti-drugs schemes, but it did not promise any major increase on the �1.4 billion already spent annually by the government on a range of drug-related policies.

Keith Hellawell has warned against any simple solution to the problem of drugs.

"Young people are influenced by many things. They're not silly. People engage them as if they were an alien breed," he has said. Legalisation is not on his agenda.

The US Experience

Keith Hellawell's appointment follows a model in the USA where the Drugs Czar is the Director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP). The ONDCP is authorised to develop and co-ordinate the policies and objectives of the US Government.

The concept of a drugs czar began under President Bush in 1989 when two-thirds of Americans rated drugs as the number one issue of concern.

William Bennet was the first czar. He resigned only a year after taking up the position after being criticised for his focus on targeting drug dealers and trying to persuade the public that drugs were unfashionable.

An ex-army general, Barry McCaffrey, currently holds the position. He has been more moderate in his approach, stressing that treatment and prevention are essential components of an effective strategy.

Indeed, at his confirmation hearing, McCaffrey said that the metaphor of a war on drugs was inadequate - too militaristic and macho.

With or without the tough language, it has been difficult to contain the drug problem. Between 1989 and 1992, cocaine use did fall in the US by 22%. However, this fall was among the middle classes. The use of cocaine, heroin and crack among poorer people went up.

The US drug law enforcement bill rose from $4.7bn to $12.3bn over the same period. But the street price of heroin and cocaine dropped sharply, indicating an increased supply.

The experience of the US suggests Mr Hellawell's job is going to be far from easy.