Outrage over US group's £200 offer to drug addicts to get sterilised

Project Prevention said "hundreds" of UK residents had been in touch to take up the cash offer after charity founder Barbara Harris arrived in Glasgow last week.

But a Glasgow mum, who is not an addict, said she was horrified and insulted when the group offered her money to be sterilised outside the city's Possilpark Health Centre with her son last week.

And professionals who work with addicts in Scotland have condemned the tactics employed by the group, saying it is "not wanted" in this country.

Ms Harris, who set up the US group, announced weeks ago that she planned to bring her campaign to the UK after an anonymous $20,000 donation from a "London donor".

She said on her Twitter and Facebook pages on Thursday: "Met an addict in Glasgow today who was seven months pregnant with her fifth baby. She was so high she could barely talk to us. She cried telling us that they were about to adopt out her four-year-old daughter. We tried to get her to go into drug treatment, but she had reasons why she just couldn't.

"I hope after she delivers her baby that she'll get on birth control so they cannot take any more children from her."

She added moments later: "Received hundreds of supportive e-mails from UK residents the past couple of days. I am just so pleased that most people agree that it's not OK to abuse innocent children."

Ms Harris could not be reached for comment last night. But 33-year-old Deborah Wilson said she was angry after being approached by the group and later reported the incident to Strathclyde Police, who confirmed they are investigating.

She said she was asked to have a contraceptive implant or full sterilisation in exchange for the money as she left the Possilpark Health Centre on Friday.

The mother-of-two said: "As we left the health centre I saw three ladies coming out of a car and they told me there was this new scheme, offering 200. Then I saw a bit of paper in her hand and it had drug addicts written on it.

"I'm not a addict. I think I was approached because I was in the Possilpark area – it's a well-known area for drugs – but that's where my doctor is based. I'm very hurt and angry that someone could approach me in the street and ask me those sorts of questions at all, let alone when I had my nine-year-old with me."

Drug campaign groups hit back at Project Prevention's approach as "reprehensible". Andrew Horne, Scottish director of UK charity Addaction, said: "There is no place for Project Prevention in the UK because their practices are morally reprehensible and irrelevant. Many of our clients stopped using drugs because they became a parent.

"Sex education and contraceptive advice is part of drug treatment work in this country. Women who use drugs can access all types of contraception free on the NHS including a number of long-term options.

"It's certainly true that too many children are growing up with drug-using parents, but working with the whole family helps stop drug use and improves a child's prospects dramatically."

Ms Harris set up the North Carolina-based group after adopting four crack-addicted babies from the same mother. She claimed 3,388 people, including 47 men, had signed up for the treatment in America.

Strathclyde Police said the circumstances around the incident would be investigated. A spokeswoman added: "If you are approached on the street and have concerns and feel the approach was inappropriate, then contact your local police office where officers will look into the complaint."