InterveneNow

Top Menu

Main Menu

  • Home
  • About Us
  • blog
  • Contact Us
  • Find local support
Sign in / Join

Login

Welcome! Login in to your account
Lost your password?
Register

Lost Password

Back to login

Register

Back to login

logo

  • Home
  • About Us
  • blog
  • Contact Us
  • Find local support
  • HOW THE CIGARETTE WHISPERER CIGARETTE WHISPERS

  • Marcela Blog – Coaching | InterveneNow

  • Change is Possible: Here’s How

  • Houston Roundup 2018

  • Do you Manipulate or Negotiate?

NewsResearch
Home›News›THE PHONEY WAR ON DRUGS

THE PHONEY WAR ON DRUGS

By
578
1
Share:

FAILURE OF GOVERNMENT DRUG POLICY IS EXPOSED 

The government has repeatedly declared that it is fighting a "war on drugs". But Kathy Gyngell shows that this has been a facade, in The Phoney War on Drugs, published today by the Centre for Policy Studies.

PhoneyWar Indeed, the UK now has one of the most liberal drug policies in Europe. Both Sweden and the Netherlands, despite popular misconceptions, have a more rigorous approach – and far fewer problems with drugs.

 The UK faces a widening and a deepening crisis. Over the past 10 years, Class A consumption and "problem drug use" have risen dramatically, drug use has spread to rural areas and the age of children’s initiation into drugs has dropped. 41% of 15 year olds, and 11% of 11 year olds, have taken drugs.

Drug death rates continue to rise and are far higher than the European average. The UK has 47.5 deaths per million population (aged 15 to 64) compared to 22.0 in Sweden and 9.6 in the Netherlands. There are over 10 problem drug ssers (PDUs) per 1,000 of the adult population, compared to 4.5 in Sweden or 3.2 in the Netherlands.

Click here for the full 82-page Phoney War on Drugs pdf from the Centre for Policy Studies. For highlights, read on…

Kathy Gyngell Gyngell's report shows how the Labour government has taken a new direction for drug policy. Its new “harm-reduction” strategy aimed to reduce the cost of problem drug use. The focus was switched from combating all illicit drug use to the problems of PDUs. Cannabis was declassified. Spending on methadone 'treatment' increased threefold between 2003 and 2008. Treatment for drug offenders was redefined as being no longer abstinence but management of their addiction with the aim of reducing their reoffending. In practice, this meant prescribing methadone.

"This harm-reduction approach, at the expense of others, has failed. It has entrapped 147,000 people in state sponsored (mainly methadone) addiction," Gyngell writes. "The numbers emerging from government treatment programmes are at the same level as if there had been no treatment programme at all."

WEAK ENFORCEMENT AND PREVENTION

The UK drugs market is estimated to be worth £5billion a year. In comparison, the government is spending only £380 million a year – or 28% of the total drugs budget – attempting to control the supply of drugs (over £800 million is spent on treatment programmes and reducing drug-related crime). Only five boats now patrol the UK’s 7,750 mile coastline.

The numbers of recorded offences for importing, supply and possession of illicit drugs have all fallen over the last 10 years. At the same time, seizures of drugs have fallen and drug prices have dropped to record low. The quantity of heroin, cocaine and cannabis that has been seized coming into the UK has fallen by 68%, 16% and 34% respectively (the recent announcement by SOCA of record cocaine seizures should be treated with great caution).

AN ALTERNATIVE

Both Sweden and the Netherlands have far more coherent and effective drugs policies. These are based on the enforcement of the drug laws (unlike in the UK, most of the drugs budget in both countries is spent on prevention and enforcement); the prevention of all illicit drug use; and the provision of addiction care.  Gyngell demonstrates t hat these principles have been lost sight of over the last 10 years in the UK. A successful UK drug policy would in contrast:

• focus on the illicit use of all drugs, not the harms caused by drug use;

• abandon the harm reduction approach;

• develop treatment support aimed at abstinence and rehabilitation;

• include a far tougher, better-funded enforcement programme to reduce the supply of drugs.

NOTES:

1. The full report can be downloaded here.

2. Kathy Gyngell chaired and authored the Addictions Reports of the Social Justice Policy Review for the Conservative Party, published in Breakdown Britain in December 2006 and Breakthrough Britain in July 2007. She is chair of the Prisons and Addictions Policy Forum at the CPS. She was also the co-author with Ray Lewis of From Latchkey to Leadership: Channelling the Talents of Inner City Youth.

Previous Article

INVOLUNTARY TRANQUILLISER ADDICTION

Next Article

RECOVERY MOVEMENT HAS ARRIVED!

0
Shares
  • 0
  • +
  • 0
  • 0
  • 0
  • 0

Related articles More from author

  • LORD MANCROFT AND THE NHS
    News

    LORD MANCROFT AND THE NHS

    By
  • DRUG STRATEGY
    NewsPolicies, legislationTherapeutic Techniques

    DRUG STRATEGY 2008-2018: treatment details

    By
  • Research

    MORE BABIES ARE BORN DRUG-DEPENDENT

    By
  • DebateNational Treatment Agency - DoHNewsPolicies, legislation

    END OF THE LINE FOR THE NTA?

    By
  • NewsPolicies, legislationResearch

    DRINK GUIDELINES: CUT LIMITS, SAVE LIVES

    By
  • News

    “SUCCESSFULLY LEAVING TREATMENT?”

    By

1 comment

  1. David Smallwood 20 May, 2009 at 08:39 Log in to Reply

    Anyone in the business of treating addiction has known since it began that the “harm reduction” approach was only of use to the people gainfully employed in delivering it, and preaching to the “heritics” who opposed it.
    To steal a quote from an english man of some note, “never have so many been ignored,abandoned and sidelined by so few”.
    It reminds me of the banking crisis where, despite being assured by “those who know better than I”, personal gain came much higher up the agenda than common good.

Leave a reply Cancel reply

You must be logged in to post a comment.

You may interested

  • Behavioural Health of the Palm Beaches
    Articles

    Treatment service – Behavioural Health of the Palm Beaches

  • How To Deal With An Anxiety Attack
    Anxiety

    Pro Tips On How To Deal With An Anxiety Attack?

  • Jimmy Somerville
    ArticlesYour recovery journey

    My Rock Bottom – Jimmy Somerville

  • LATEST REVIEWS

  • TOP REVIEWS

Timeline

  • HOW THE CIGARETTE WHISPERER CIGARETTE WHISPERS

  • Marcela Blog – Coaching | InterveneNow

  • Change is Possible: Here’s How

  • Houston Roundup 2018

  • Do you Manipulate or Negotiate?

Subscribe Now

Latest Comments

  • jenrodriguez
    on
    It is pretty hard to find if a person has a sociopath disorder to know the ...

    EMPATHIC PEOPLE ARE NATURAL TARGETS FOR SOCIOPATHS – PROTECT YOURSELF

  • Marcela Blog – Coaching – Jayla Zoey's Blog
    on
    […] post Marcela Blog – Coaching appeared first on […]

    Marcela Blog – Coaching | InterveneNow

  • promugulus
    on
    What if when you walk away from the sociopath you won't be entirely free of him/her(since ...

    EMPATHIC PEOPLE ARE NATURAL TARGETS FOR SOCIOPATHS – PROTECT YOURSELF

  • promugulus
    on
    I read your articles and i wanted to ask you a question. What if I can't just ...

    EMPATHIC PEOPLE ARE NATURAL TARGETS FOR SOCIOPATHS – PROTECT YOURSELF

  • Change is Possible: Here’s How – Jayla Zoey's Blog
    on
    […] post Change is Possible: Here’s How appeared first on […]

    Change is Possible: Here’s How

Directory

Find us on Facebook

InterveneNow is a Mental Health webmag focussing on the challenges presented to modern society; Stress, Anxiety, Depression, Substance Misuse, Trauma and General Wellbeing.

Over time we have developed coping mechanisms and our lives go on. However, how much better could it be?

Follow us

  • Recent

  • Popular

  • Comments

  • HOW THE CIGARETTE WHISPERER CIGARETTE WHISPERS

    By
  • Marcela Blog – Coaching | InterveneNow

    By
  • Change is Possible: Here’s How

    By
  • Houston Roundup

    Houston Roundup 2018

    By
  • EMPATHIC PEOPLE ARE NATURAL TARGETS FOR SOCIOPATHS – PROTECT YOURSELF

    By
  • CAMERON’S DRUG STRATEGY IS NOBBLED AT STARTING GATE

    By
  • BREAKING THE HABIT:

    By
  • ACMD: ACRONYM OR ANACHRONISM?

    By
  • jenrodriguez
    on

    EMPATHIC PEOPLE ARE NATURAL TARGETS FOR SOCIOPATHS – PROTECT YOURSELF

    It is pretty hard ...
  • Marcela Blog – Coaching – Jayla Zoey's Blog
    on

    Marcela Blog – Coaching | InterveneNow

    […] post Marcela Blog ...
  • promugulus
    on

    EMPATHIC PEOPLE ARE NATURAL TARGETS FOR SOCIOPATHS – PROTECT YOURSELF

    What if when you ...
  • promugulus
    on

    EMPATHIC PEOPLE ARE NATURAL TARGETS FOR SOCIOPATHS – PROTECT YOURSELF

    I read your articles ...

Find us on Facebook

  • Privacy Policy
  • Support
© Copyright InterveneNow Ltd. All rights reserved.
Most famous Mental Health medications https://xanaxcost.com , https://diazepamhome.com Xanax and Valium.