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Britain 'winning drugs war'

BBC News, On-Line

Tuesday 07 Nov 2000


Britain is winning the war on drugs, the government's drugs czar Keith Hellawell has said.

Mr Hellawell's second annual report - which has taken 18 months to compile - said the government is well on the way to meeting its tough 10-year targets.

These include halving the availability of Class A drugs on the streets, halving the number of young people using heroin and cocaine and doubling the number of drug abusers in treatment by 2008.

There were also "indications" that use of Ecstasy and LSD was declining, according to the report.

The government's anti-drugs co-ordinator - reappointed for a second, three-year term this summer - described the progress made during the past year as "considerable" and "real", as he launched his report at a London school.

Targets for disrupting drug trafficking were exceeded, with seizures up 49% on last year, according to the National Crime Squad.

Class A drugs valued at 1,246m pounds were kept off the streets - three times the annual target.

The target for encouraging schools to have drug education policies had also been met, said Mr Hellawell.

And the proportion of prisoners failing mandatory drug tests continued to fall this year, down to 14.2%.

'Purity increased'

But Mr Hellawell added: "There is still a long way to go.

"Drug misuse costs Britain over 4bn pounds a year in crime, sickness and absenteeism."

Although drug misuse among young people had levelled off, nearly half of all 16-year-olds were estimated to have tried drugs at least once.

And consumption of cocaine was on the increase, the report said.

The director of drugs law reform group Transform, Danny Kushlick, said: "The strategy looks fine on paper but the fact is it has made no difference to those areas of the country where the misuse of heroin is endemic.

"Nothing has changed for those communities.

"And it hasn't helped that politicians have focused on cannabis as the main issue."

The price of heroin and cocaine had fallen and its purity increased, Mr Kushlick added.

He called for a full audit of drug law enforcement and the legalisation of illegal drugs.

 

 

 

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