Pubdate: Tue, 12 Sep 2006
Source: Daily Mail (UK)
Copyright: 2006 Associated Newspapers Ltd
Contact:  http://www.dailymail.co.uk/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/108
Author: Steve Doughty
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?207 (Cannabis - United Kingdom)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/hr.htm (Harm Reduction)

UK TOPS EUROPEAN DRUG USE TABLE

Britain has a greater level of serious drug abuse than  any other
country in Europe, damning new figures show.

The study reveals nearly one in every hundred people of  working age
in this country is a drug addict, a level  unmatched anywhere else on
the continent.

The United Nations report showed that rates of problem  abuse here are
more than three times those in Holland,  nearly four times levels of
serious drug-taking in  Germany, over twice the rates in France, and
nearly  double the European average.

The number of regular heavy and regular drug abusers in  Britain has
shot up compared to the rest of Europe over  the past decade,
according to the figures.

The UN report drew a powerful contrast between Britain  and Sweden, a
country where the government has  increased penalties for drug abuse
and fought a  campaign to eradicate drugs entirely.

This has brought down levels of drug use, the report  said - while
Britain, where the Labour has eased the  laws on cannabis and helped
heroin users - has seen its  problems multipy.

Tory leaders and critics of the Government's liberal  line on drugs
warned that tolerance of drugs has  produced a disastrous result.
Shadow Home Secretary  David Davis said: 'This is a direct consequence
of  Labour's failure to tackle the scourge of drugs and the  British
people are paying a very high price.'

The report by the United Nations Office on Drugs and  Crime is based
on figures calculated by the European  Union's Lisbon-based drugs
agency but never publicised.  They define problem drug abuse as
'injecting drug use  or long duration or regular use of opiates,
cocaine  and/or amphetamines'.

Occasional use of heroin, cocaine or amphetamines does  not count
towards the figures, and nor are users of  ecstasy or cannabis included.

Britain's 300,000 heroin addicts contribute to a rating  of 0.94 per
cent of the population aged between 15 and  64 as problem drug users -
just under one in 100  working age people.

In all 18 EU countries where UN officials believe  enough evidence
exists to make comparisons possible,  the level is lower.

Holland, where drug abuse is often considered rife, has  just 0.30 per
cent of its 15-64 population ranked as  problem drug-takers. In
Germany the level is just 0.25  per cent, in France 0.44. The EU
average rate is 0.51  per cent.

Among major European countries, the nearest to Britain  for problem
drug abuse is Italy, at 0.75 per cent of  the working age population.
Only Latvia and tiny  Luxembourg come near the British levels with
rates at  over 0.9 per cent.

Britain's number of problem drug abusers, the figures  said, has gone
up from under six per cent of the  working age population ten years
ago.

The UN report also confirmed that Britain is second  only to Spain in
Europe for levels of cannabis use  among young people aged between 15
and 24, and that use  of drugs other than cannabis among young people
is  highest in Britain and Ireland.

The league table makes uncomfortable reading for  Labour, which has
twisted and turned since the  disastrous decision after the 2001
election to  reclassify cannabis from class B to class A, a move  that
means people caught with the drug are no longer  routinely arrested.

Ministers have accepted that the decison was made  without taking into
account evidence showing links  between cannabis and mental illness,
but say they will  not change the law back because that would cause
too  much confusion among the young.

There have also been increasing signs that the  Government wishes to
be more tolerant of hard drug  abuse. Public money is to be used to
fund four  experimental 'shooting galleries' in which addicts will  be
invited to inject legally-provided heroin. Yesterday  North Wales
Chief Constable Richard Brunstrom announced  that addicts will be able
to get clean needles from a  machine set up at a police station.

By contrast, the UN report praised Sweden, where over  the past two
decades laws have been tightened so that  drug abuse - not possession
of a drug as in Britain -  is a crime that can result in a jail term
and where  minor offences attract six month jail sentences.

The UN report praised Sweden's 'ambitious goal of a  drug-free
society' and added: 'The prevalence and  incident rates of drug abuse
have fallen in Sweden  while they have increased in most other
European  countries.'

The Home Office yesterday questioned the UN  comparisons. 'The way we
gather figures in this country  is different from everywhere else,' a
spokesman said.  'The figures are not comparable.'

He added: 'Levels of use of Class A drugs in Britian  are stable.
Drug-related crime is falling. Increasing  quantities of drugs are
being seized, and record  numbers of people are getting treatment.'

Earlier this year UN drugs chief Antonio Maria Costa  signalled his
disapproval of British drug policy,  saying: 'Policy reversals leave
young people confused  as to just how dangerous cannabis is.'

Shadow Home Secretary Mr Davis said: 'Labour needs to  get an urgent
grip on this problem. Instead of peddling  a confused message that
lets people think it is ok to  take drugs, they should start by
securing our porous  borders which allow hard drugs to flow into our
country.'

Mary Brett of the Europe Against Drugs group said:  'This is saying
that harm reduction policies and  tolerance of drug use is causing
great damage. The  change of the law on cannabis and the other signals
  sent out by the Government have encouraged people to  use drugs.'
- ---
MAP posted-by: Derek