IT'S an irresistible thought that, somewhere in the Faithful City, a family may be easing from Christmas towards the New Year blissfully unaware that tragedy's not far away.

The photo of Anita Gair on Page 9 is both an awful reminder that someone's child will take drugs in a city club, sometime between now and January 1, and that it could be the last conscious decision they make.

Her face also serves as a declaration, two years after she died from ecstasy poisoning, that the Government's efforts to draw people away from the drug culture has been singularly unsuccessful since.

And, we're disappointed to say, we hold no great hopes that the £1.5m poster campaign it has launched today will make any greater difference.

The essence of the thinking behind it is valid, most of all the recognition that youngsters should be steered clear of the advice of friends about the risks or the benefits of taking drugs.

But we've always believed hectoring doesn't work. On this occasion, our guess is that the posters and radio advertising will soon become wallpaper, background sight and sound.

Instead, we'd like to have seen peer pressure used to in a positive fashion. We can't help wondering how many youngsters might have been trained as counsellors, using the £1.5m, to drip-feed the same, well-tuned message home.

We pray that we don't find ourselves reporting a nightclub drug death in the coming days. Our confidence would have been higher, though, if the Government had long since changed the record.