Home secretary unveils drugs consultation
Jacqui Smith has unveiled the consultation
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Wednesday, 25, Jul 2007 08:28
Home secretary Jacqui Smith has unveiled a drugs consultation period ahead of the government's new drugs strategy due to be implemented in April 2008.
The current strategy ends in March next year and according to the government this latest consultation is the largest programme on drugs to date.
Included in the provisional proposals for the strategy are a further £5.65 million for drugs education - including the Frank awareness campaign - and more treatment for drug users.
Government figures suggest that drug use has dropped by 24 per cent in young people since 1998 and drug-related crime has fallen by 20 per cent.
But the use of class A drugs like heroin and crack cocaine is stable and the Home Office thinks more can be done to reduce the levels of users.
A much-discussed reclassification of cannabis is also on the agenda, and the government has said the independent Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs will undertake a six-month review into cannabis.
The panel will make its recommendations to the government early next year which could see cannabis reclassified as a class B drug to compensate for the stronger strains of the drug currently being circulated.
The home secretary said: "Record numbers of people are undergoing drug treatment, but we are not complacent and recognise there is much work to do.
"That is why I want to hear fresh and constructive ideas on how we can build on our achievements with the new drug strategy.
"I want to sharpen our focus, target the most vulnerable and educate the young. We need to ensure that treatment is effective and followed through and I know that many drug users need extra help to get their lives together and re-establish themselves within society."
High on the list of the new strategy's priorities will be tackling drug dealers and the Home Office hopes to build on the more than £3 billion worth of class A drugs seized last year.
The consultation, called Drugs: Our Community, Your Say, will seek to find out what needs to be done to get drug dealers off the streets and how drug education can be improved.
In addition, helping drug users after treatment stay off the drugs is an area which will be looked at.
Ed Balls, minister for children, schools and families, said that asking schools to help in drug education would avoid people taking up the habit in the first place.
"We know that this kind of work can be really effective in influencing attitudes amongst young people," Mr Balls said.
Public health minister Dawn Primarolo echoed his comments and noted that 190,000 people received treatment for drug misuse in the past year, almost double the 85,000 treated in 1998.
"Treatment works," Ms Primarolo said. "It helps people put their lives back together and it means they no longer need money to buy drugs."
There are currently 327,000 problem drug users - people who use heroin and/or crack cocaine - in the UK. This group is responsible for 99 per cent of the costs to society of class A drug misuse and 90 per cent of drug-related crime.