Pubdate: Tue, 02 Jul 2002
Source: Huddersfield Daily Examiner, The (UK)
Copyright: Trinity Mirror Plc 2002
Contact:  http://ichuddersfield.icnetwork.co.uk/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/2278

UKP20M TO DRIVE OUT DRUG PUSHERS

Britain's most drug-afflicted communities are to received a cash injection 
from the Government to fight street crime.

The 10 worst affected police forces, which are responsible for dealing with 
82% of street crime, will share a UKP20 million handout, say the Home Office.

The announcement came as a report showed hard drugs "markets" were the main 
obstacle preventing the regeneration of deprived neighbourhoods.

The cash boost will help to drive Class A drug pushers out of 
neighbourhoods, disrupting the trade in narcotics and offering treatment 
for offenders.

The money, alongside UKP50 million already earmarked for anti-drugs schemes 
across the country this year, will also help tackle the stolen goods market 
that funds drug habits.

Both sums are part of a three-year, UKP220 million Communities Against 
Drugs package announced in last year's Budget.

Meanwhile the independent study, called A Rock and a Hard Place, said 
heroin and crack cocaine were a "complex and growing problem" that needed 
tackling at all levels.

Local agencies were not doing enough, given the scale of the problem, 
according to the study by the Centre for Analysis of Social Exclusion at 
the London School of Economics and the Criminal Policy Research Unit at 
South Bank University.

Speaking at the C2AD drugs project in Clapton, east London, Home Office 
Minister John Denham said: "Class A drugs and crime are clearly linked.

"Tackling them both is key to ending the cycle of drug dependency and 
criminal activity that ruins lives and wrecks communities, and is a 
Government priority."
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