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UK: Downing Street: We Are Losing Drugs War
Oonagh Blackman, Political Editor The Mirror
Monday 22 Nov 2004 No10 says crackdown won't cut crime Addicts 'should get heroin from doctors' But Blair will still launch election blitz DOWNING Street advisers say the war on drugs is being lost and are warning Tony Blair in a secret report that a new crackdown will not cut crime. Its initial findings said detention and jailings would have no impact on drug- related offences. The Strategy Unit aides said addiction to substances such as heroin, crack and cocaine had to be treated as a medical problem. A clamp on street sellers - often addicts themselves - would make prices "go up", encouraging more law-breaking to pay for more expensive drugs. But the Prime Minister will ignore the advice, including heroin on prescription, and tomorrow launch a Queen's Speech crackdown on drugs as a key election policy. "High-harm" users will be targeted, with police having powers to prosecute purely on the strength of positive blood tests, rather than actual possession of illegal substances. Last night Danny Kushlick, director of the Transform Drug Policy Foundation, led the opposition to Mr Blair. He said: "The advice from the Prime Minister's Strategy Unit has been manipulated to dupe the public into supporting the failed policy of prohibition. "This draconian legislation can only make things worse. In the short-term, the only way to reduce drug-related crime is to prescribe to offending heroin and crack users." Lord Victor Adebowale, a crossbench peer who is chief executive of social care charity Turning Point, said plans for a new crackdown were "ludicrous". He added: "We need to focus on making current treatment programmes more effective, not dreaming up new offences to shovel people into the system. "Instead, we see both the Conservative and Labour parties in a pre-election pantomime trying to prove who's toughest on drugs. It flies in the face of the evidence. "The key is that you punish the crime and treat the addiction - that distinction is starting to be lost through the war on drugs. "Now we're talking about punishing for having drugs in the bloodstream." Other figures, such as former CBI boss Adair Turner, want an end to prohibition, rather than launching "unwinnable wars". Labour MP Paul Flynn, who backs the idea of prescription, said: "A benign drug policy must follow the failure of prohibition." The first Drugs Bill will pave the way for an unprecedented dragnet. Street dealers and more than 200,000 "high-harm" users - believed to be responsible for the bulk of drug-related crime - will be targeted. The drive is aimed at making more arrests of heroin and cocaine users and forcing them into treatment programmes. But the report by Downing Street advisers says this is not the way to tackle the problem. A softer first draft, the Mirror can reveal, was hardened up by Lord Birt, one of the Prime Minister's controversial "blue skies thinkers" on future policy. But even the second version urges a radical change of direction in a battle which the advisers suggest is being lost. In a deeply controversial move, it calls for an end to prohibition of heroin and a return to prescription of the highly addictive Class A drug. It says controlled supply by doctors through the NHS would be "more effective" than forced rehabilitation. There would also be a "significant impact" on the UKP4billion criminal market in heroin. Mr Blair's aim is to stop the Tories seizing the law and order agenda in the run-up to an expected election next spring. He personally demanded tough measures with a focus on cutting drug-related crime. Prosecution on the evidence of blood tests would follow compulsory checks on those arrested for minor offences. Mr Blair wants more addicts on treatment programmes, which campaigners support - provided more resources are available. Whitehall sources say the idea of prescription drugs has been "shelved". The idea of a war on drugs was dreamed up by President Nixon in 1972, modelled on US military tactics against the Viet Cong. It has been used by successive US, British and other Western governments - and is seen as a failure. It is estimated that drug addicts are behind a third of all crime here, with the bill for heroin and crack-related offences estimated at about UKP16billion. About 13,000 Drug Treatment and Testing Orders were issued this year, but only about a third are completed. Campaigners are seeking more emphasis on social factors such as poor education, housing and job prospects.
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