25/07/2007 00:00:00
UK: Public consulted on drug strategy
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The government has launched what it says is the country's biggest public
consultation on tackling drugs.
Jacqui Smith, who last week admitted having taken cannabis at
university, has outlined plans such as more drug education for children
aged under 11.
The home secretary will also announce an extra £5m for the Talk to Frank
awareness campaign for young people.
And, as Prime Minister Gordon Brown has already said, there will be a
review of the reclassification of cannabis.
Ms Smith launched the consultation less than a week after she admitted
smoking cannabis while she was at Oxford University in the 1980s.
Her admission prompted a string of fellow Cabinet ministers to reveal
their own drug-taking experiences.
Treatment programmes
Two other departments will be involved in the consultation with the Home
Office - the Department for Children, Schools and Families and the
Department of Health.
The consultation paper will focus on drug-treatment programmes and the
wider anti-drugs strategy in a bid to update the current drug strategy
which finishes in March 2008.
It is being launched as the National Institute for Clinical Excellence
issues new guidelines for treating addicts, which could see some offered
shopping vouchers in return for staying off drugs.
The public, including current and ex-drug users, have until 19 October
to respond to the 40-question consultation paper.
Among the questions are whether children under the age of 11 should be
specifically targeted in anti-drugs campaigns.
The Home Office paper says that 17% of 11 to 15 year olds in England and
Wales have said they have used drugs.
Other figures show that more than half of robberies, burglaries and
thefts involved drug users.
Success rates
This link led to the Drugs Intervention Programme which sees testing on
arrest and offers of treatment.
While the numbers under treatment have steadily increased, the
consultation paper also wants to gather views on how to improve the
success rate.
Government figures show that for every pound spent on drugs treatment
the health service and the criminal justice system saves nearly £10.
The government's main aim is to tackle drugs by toughening enforcement
against dealers, educating young people and treating drug users.
The cannabis classification review will last for six months, with the
independent Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs reporting to the
government early next year.
It will take into account the fact that there are now far stronger
strains of cannabis available.
Strategy update
Ms Smith said: "Drug use has fallen by 24% among young people since
1998, we have cut drug related crime by 20% in the last four years and
record numbers of people are undergoing drug treatment, but we are not
complacent and recognise there is much work to do.
"That is why I want to hear fresh and constructive ideas on how we can
build on our achievements with the new drug strategy."
To find out what the public wants the Home Office will run workshops and
events with community members, families and current and ex-drug users to
ask how it should tackle drugs.
It will also distribute 200,000 leaflets to police stations, libraries,
doctors' surgeries and community groups across in England and Wales.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/6914456.stm
Source:
http://www.ukcia.org/news/shownewsarticle.php?articleid=12733
Author:
BBC News via UKCIA
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