Islamic extremism should be regarded as a potential addiction for vulnerable young people in the same way as alcohol, drugs or gambling, according to Scotland's counter-terrorism co-ordinator.

Allan Burnett wants to introduce rehabilitative measures similar to addiction support to prevent youngsters from becoming radicalised by fundamentalists, instead of sending them to prison.

Speaking on the eve of the first anniversary of the Glasgow airport attack, Mr Burnett told The Herald that he wants to develop restorative justice and early intervention initiatives for young people as part of the strategy to stop future attacks.

The Assistant Chief Constable of Fife and the country's terrorist czar is clear that there will be no leniency for those committing acts of serious violence.

However, for young people on the cusp of being led astray by extremist propaganda, he believes the emphasis should be on prevention. For that to work, he wants to build the trust of parents and the wider community so that if they come forward with concerns, their children will not be automatically penalised.

"One of the things we are trying to do is early intervention, which we would use in other areas of behaviour to put a stop to it," he said. "Just like any other perversion, the primary people who will stop (radicalisation) are parents. It happens with people concerned about their kids drinking, taking drugs or gambling. It happens right across the board and we shouldn't be surprised that sometimes parents don't have the knowledge or the skill to intervene in a positive way.

"When concerned parents come to the authorities, whether it be the school, social work or the police, then we have to look at suitable ways to support the parents and their children. I have no doubt that the answer to some of this will resemble what we do with other addictions or perversions. There may be a larger religious input to it, but religion often plays a part in helping with other addictions.

"Our interest is not in a prison sentence because the only effect that will have is to deter the parents from coming to us again and will have the same effect on the broader community. A much more lenient disposal may be appropriate in certain situations, especially when we can guarantee the support of parents."

Mr Burnett said that the public needed to be aware of the difference between criminality and young people starting to looking at extremist websites.

He is keen to look at some of the preventative projects being piloted in England and Wales, to see how they could be implemented in Scotland.

Last week, senior police officers revealed that a 12-year-old boy had been referred to the Channel Project after downloading Jihadist beheading videos and circulating them around his school.

The pilot project, operated by West Yorkshire, the Metropolitan and Lancashire police forces, has been running for nine months and has already had 124 referrals. None has been prosecuted so far.

Sir Norman Bettison, Chief Constable of West Yorkshire, said: "Throwing the book at them in terms of the Prevention of Terrorism Act would be complete overkill. We are not talking about criminal actions. We are talking about vulnerable kids."

Osama Saeed, chief executive of the newly formed Scottish-Islamic Foundation, said last night: "The biggest thing the Muslim community must do is get on with normal business, rather than jump up and down about terrorism per se.

"For example, the programmes which we run for young Muslims aren't billed as anti-radicalisation' programmes. They are about training those who attend not just about what their faith is, but how they can engage as active citizens.

"It would also be useful for the police to outline where the dividing line lies between someone who can be put back on the straight and narrow and someone who has veered into terrorist criminality, and therefore needs to be prosecuted to the full severity of the law.

Successive Terrorism Acts and offences such as glorification' have made this very hazy."

Mr Saeed also said that the foundation, which was launched on Thursday, supports a state-funded Islamic school and not state funding to teach young people Islamic religion and law, as was reported in The Herald yesterday.