Pubdate: Thu, 19 Apr 2007
Source: Gulf Times (Qatar)
Copyright: Gulf Times Newspaper, 2007
Contact:  http://www.gulf-times.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/3835

BRITAIN'S DRUG PROBLEM WORST IN EUROPE: STUDY

LONDON: Britain has the worst level of drug abuse in Europe and the 
second-highest rate of drug-related deaths, according to a study 
published yesterday.

Despite years of anti-drug campaigns, government policy has had 
a€oeminimala€  impact on the level of drug abuse in Britain, the report said.

The government insists, however, that its strategy to tackle drug 
abuse has been a success, with record numbers of people entering and 
staying in treatment.

Dame Ruth Runciman, who chairs the UK Drug Policy Commission, the new 
think-tank behind the research, said there were signs of progress but 
not enough had been done to see what policies were working well and why.

She said Britain was a€oedoing badlya€  when compared to the rest of 
Europe and more research was needed to tackle the problem.

a€oeThe commission does not start from the position that all UK drug 
policy has failed, but rather that we do not know enough about which 
elements of policy work, why they work and where they work well,a€ she said.

The study found little evidence that longer jail sentences, more 
arrests, education and treatment had cut the number of addicts or the 
availability of drugs.

The number of heroin users in England alone is estimated at 281,000, 
compared to just 5,000 in 1975, the study found. A fifth of all 
people arrested are heroin addicts.

A quarter of those born between 1976 and 1980 have tried a Class A 
drug, a category that includes heroin, cocaine and ecstasy. Nearly 
half of young people have smoked cannabis.

The price of drugs has fallen, despite a rise in arrests of dealers 
and increased seizures. A gramme of heroin typically cost AUKP54 in 
2005, compared to AUKP70 in 2000.

In 2005, there were 1,644 drug-related deaths. An estimated four out 
of 10 people who inject drugs have hepatitis C.

Prime Minister Tony Blair said his government had doubled funding for 
the treatment of drug addicts and had overseen a 16% fall in drug 
misuse since 1998.

a€oeI appreciate wea€TMve still got a very great deal more to do, but 
it simply is not the case that wea€TMre not making either the 
investment or the changes that are necessary,a€  he told parliament.

The Home Office said last month that drug misuse had been reduced by 
21% over the past nine years with a AUKP7.5bn programme of 
enforcement, education and treatment.

But the headmaster of a leading public school said there was an 
a€oeepidemica€  of drug abuse among schoolchildren.

Speaking before a school anti-drugs conference, Dr Anthony Sheldon, 
master of Wellington College in Berkshire, said: a€oeWe in schools 
need to be tougher and stronger than ever about drugs. Drug use is 
now an epidemic amongst young people and there isna€TMt a school in 
the country that doesna€TMt have a problem with drugs.a€

An ICM poll last year found three in four people saw drugs as a 
problem in their area. More than half said the police should be doing 
more to tackle drugs.

The UK Drug Policy Commission was set up with a three-year grant from 
the Esmee Fairbairn Foundation, a charity with a history of funding 
social policy research.
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MAP posted-by: Beth Wehrman