Govt publishes 10-year plan to tackle drugs

The UK Government has published its ten-year drugs strategy as a “blueprint for driving drugs out of our cities, towns and villages, and for ensuring that those affected get the help that they so badly need”.

Called ‘From harm to hope’, it focuses on breaking drug supply chains, reducing demand for illegal drugs and investing a further £780 million into treatment services.

The plan is a response to Dame Carol Black’s review for the Government on drugs misuse.

Consequences

Speaking to the House of Commons, Minister for Crime and Policing Kit Malthouse said: “We want to see a generational shift in our society’s attitude towards drugs, which means reducing the demand for illegal drugs and being utterly unequivocal about the swift and certain consequences that individuals will face if they choose to take drugs as part of their lifestyle.

“We will improve our methods for identifying those drugs users and roll out a system of tougher penalties that they must face. Unlawful possession of drugs is a crime and we need to be clear that those who break the law should face consequences for their actions.”

Unlawful possession of drugs is a crime

He emphasised that drugs “drive nearly half of all homicides, and a similar proportion of crimes such as robbery, burglary and theft. More people die every year as a result of illegal drug use than from all knife crime and road traffic accidents combined.”

The Minister stated that the Government will continue to work with the devolved administrations to tackle the UK-wide issue.

Addiction

Earlier this month, Justice Secretary Dominic Raab announced that prescribing methadone for heroin addiction in prisons will be replaced by “abstinence-based methods”.

The new measures are proposed in the Prisons Strategy White Paper for England and Wales for tackling drug addiction in the prison population.

Speaking prior to the launch of the White Paper, Raab told the Justice Committee that “too many offenders are, effectively, placed on methadone and other opiate substitutes” in an attempt to reduce harm when it is, in fact, more addictive that heroin.