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UK: High profile

Alan Travis

The Guardian

Wednesday 19 Nov 2003

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Drugs minister Caroline Flint is at the centre of a huge government push to
tackle drug abuse and improve treatment. She talks to Alan Travis about the
battle ahead


Caroline Flint MP may have been drugs minister only for the past four
months but already she is deeply immersed in overseeing one of the fastest
growing government programmes in the public sector.

After 30 years of Cinders-style neglect, drug treatment is finally
receiving a massive cash injection that will see £1.5bn a year of
ring-fenced cash pumped into tackling drug abuse within two years.

Flint, the first Home Office minister to admit that she tried smoking dope
while a student in the 1980s, has just successfully pushed the
reclassification of cannabis through the Commons. A mother with three
teenage children, she now plans a major education and advertising campaign
in January, making clear how the new law will operate and stressing that
cannabis remains illegal and is not harmless.

Her decision to give an honest answer to a question about her personal use
of drugs only two weeks into her first ministerial job, and during a
90-minute dispatch box defence of the cannabis changes, has already been
enough for the tabloids to attack her as the "dope MP" and as "David
Blunkett's hapless shield".

But, in her interview with Society Guardian, it quickly becomes apparent
that she is aware of the complexities surrounding the debate over drugs.
She has an open mind when discussing innovative approaches to reducing the
harm they cause - whether it is issuing clean needles in returnable boxes
to prevent "drug litter" disfiguring public parks or trying to find ways to
ensure that serious class A drug users get access to treatment.

"Part of the rationale for the reclassification of cannabis is about the
police being able to concentrate on those drug offences and those drug
markets in communities that cause the most problems - that means class A
drugs," Flint says.

In the past five years, drug treatment programmes have become a
well-established feature of life in many prisons, but this has not been
matched by the expansion of similar services in the community. The result
has been that, in some parts of the country, hardcore addicts cannot get
access treatment unless they are inside.

"In too many cases, we end up with a revolving door," Flint says. "They go
to prison. They may get some sort of support. They may get detox. They come
out and they can be lost to the system.

"Certainly, in the four months I have been in post, talking to drug users
and people who have come off drugs, all of them can recount a tale of how
they came out of prison and did not get help in the first 24 or 48 hours.
They went back to the places they lived and the people they bought drugs
from, and despite whatever good is done in prison, they have started using
again."

She suggests the solution may lie in the new criminal justice intervention
programme that has been piloted in the 30 highest crime areas in England
and Wales and is about to be expanded to 20 more. Pilot schemes involving
teenage offenders are also about to start.

"It is about identifying as early as possible those people in the criminal
justice system who have serious drug problems. What we are trying to do is
to make sure these people get advice, treatment and support, whether it is
in the police station, in court or in prison.

"If somebody is charged, a drugs test can take place and we have arrest
referral officers based in custody suites in stations who provide advice,
support and information about where to go. If we can get them on the road
to seeking treatment, and taking up treatment, that can then influence how
they are treated by the courts -whether it is a custodial sentence or a
drug testing and treatment order."

She says the longer people are in treatment the higher the chances of
success, but that for those coming out of prison that success also depends
on having somewhere to live, finding a job and resolving family issues.

On average, explains Flint, 55% of those arrested for "acquisitive crimes"
- such as burglary and thefts from cars - test positive for class A drugs.
"They are carrying out these crimes to feed their drug habit and if we can
tackle their drug habit they will not have to carry out these crimes."

It means all the agencies involved in those 30 high crime areas; the
police, probation, drug action teams, treatment providers, have to work
together to make sure the treatment places are available whether it is
after arrest or when someone leaves prison. Flint is particularly pleased
to see the development in recent months of treatment services for crack
users that do not rely on prescribed medication.

The early results from drug testing and treatment orders (DTTOs) have been
mixed, but Flint is convinced that they are an important alternative to
sending people to prison. "We are looking to see how we can learn from the
DTTOs so far. We should make sure that if there are any gaps we address
them. The people on them need to be aware of their responsibility, but at
the same time we are dealing with a group of people who have particularly
chaotic lifestyles."

Treatment places are growing at the rate of 8% a year and include detox,
structured day care, wet houses, dry houses as well as residential
treatment. The period of rapid expansion is also improving the
traditionally frosty relations between the Home Office and the Department
of Health helped by the foundation of the National Treatment Agency.

Flint criticises the abstinence-based Swedish plan that has been adopted by
the Conservatives to create 20,000 residential treatment places so teenage
addicts face a choice of treatment or prison as a "one size fits all solution".

"To take them off for five days, or whatever, and impress upon them how
wrong it is does not begin to address the complexities of the problem. For
example, I recently met a man who had come off crack but is an alcoholic.
We are talking about people who use multiple drugs. We have to recognise
that in some cases early success might mean reducing the amount of drug
they take or reducing one drug and then starting on the next."

Flint is keen to do something about discarded needles in public parks.
Providing class A drug users with a nearby cafe or a shop is, she believes,
not the answer. But she is considering ideas such as providing needles in
returnable boxes that can be exchanged only if they contain the used needles.

To begin the new year, Flint will be involved in a big education and
advertising push to explain the changes in cannabis law that should result
in fewer people being arrested for simple possession - as long as there are
no aggravating circumstances. Instead, they will receive a police warning
and have their cannabis confiscated.

"We will look and see if this change will have an impact on how the police
focus on drugs, and whether we will see more arrests for class A," Flint
says. "I will be keeping an eye on that, as well as making sure that people
understand what the policy is.

"There has been a lot of misinformation about the reclassification of
cannabis that has not been particularly helpful in getting information
across to young people. Some newspapers have deliberately spread confusion,
wrongly claiming that the power of arrest has been abolished for all
cannabis offences."

The education and advertising campaign is designed to have an impact on the
levels of cannabis use by young people. It will spell out how the new law
will operate and will try to dissuade them from experimenting. "We have
never said it is a harmless drug," Flint insists.

The CV

Age 42
Place of birth St John's Wood, north London.
Status Married with a daughter, a son and a stepson. The couple agreed to
get married by fax.
Education Twickenham Girls School; Richmond Tertiary College; University of
East Anglia studying American history, literature and film studies.
Career Former senior political researcher; 1991-97: senior
researcher/political officer at the GMB union; 1994-99: associate editor of
Renewal, Labour modernisers' political journal; former local government
officer.
Politics Elected MP for Don Valley in May 1997; PPS to Peter Hain and then
John Reid; co-founder of the all-party parliamentary childcare group.







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Adam Medcalf - adam@ukcia.org
http://www.ukcia.org - UK Cannabis Internet Activists
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