Drug War failing in UK

[satinhide]

Drug War Fails----->>>




Crackdown fails to curb drug demand

Press Assoc. - 2 hours 19 minutes agoThe illegal drugs trade in Britain is bouncing back against tough action by police and customs with seizures failing to curb demand or supply at stree t level. The UK Drug Policy Commission report found the £5.3 billion drugs market was proving "extremely resilient" to crackdowns by law enforcement agencies, despite hundreds of millions of pounds spent each year on tackling the problem.
It claims even significant drug seizures and high-profile convictions of traffickers and dealers usually fail to have an impact on supply and demand due to the scale of the market and its ability to adapt quickly to disruptions. For example, in times of short supply dealers often reduce purity, it said.
The number of Class A drug seizures in England and Wales more than doubled between 1996 and 2005, according to the report. However, an estimated 60% to 80% of drugs would need to be seized regularly to put major traffickers out of business, even though seizure rates on this scale have never been achieved in the UK or elsewhere.
Tim McSweeney, one of the report authors, said: "Within the research literature there is a consistent call for a better understanding of how drug markets operate and the role that enforcement can have in reducing the damage caused by them.
"We were struck by just how little evidence there is to show that the hundreds of millions of pounds spent on UK enforcement each year has made a sustainable impact and represents value for money."
The report calls for more to be done to reduce the effect of drugs on communities, for instance, by tackling drugs-related "collateral damage" such as gang violence and prostitution.
The authors argue this would have a greater impact on the drugs trade than big hauls.
David Blakey CBE QPM, of the UK Drug Policy Commission, said: "All enforcement agencies aim to reduce drug harms and most have formed local partnerships to do this, but they still tend to be judged by measures of traditional supply-side activity such as seizure rates.
"This is a pity as it is very difficult to show that increasing drug seizures actually leads to less drug-related harm. Of course, drug dealers must be brought to justice, but we should recognise and encourage the wider role that the police and other law enforcement officials can play in reducing the impact of drug markets on our communities."

Reputation Comments on this post:

good one. victorty.

[ramjet]

From BBC News:

Drugs swoops 'have little impact'

Police are fighting a losing battle against drugs crime, with seizures having little impact on reducing supply or demand, research has suggested.

The UK Drug Policy Commission said despite the large sums of money spent tackling the problem, traditional police tactics were not working.

It said the £5.3bn British drugs market was too "fluid" for law enforcement agencies to cut supply.

It added more should be done to reduce the effects of drugs on communities.

A Home Office spokesperson said: "The government agrees that enforcement in isolation is not effective."

UK Drugs market: expenditure and seizures
Price mark-ups along supply chain
BBC home editor Mark Easton said the report was a "very bleak assessment of where we are in what some people call the war on drugs".

The report, titled Tackling Drug Networks and Distribution Networks in the UK, concluded that although the amount of Class A drugs seized between 1996 and 2005 doubled, the market had proved to be "extremely resilient".

This was despite 12% of the heroin and 9% of the cocaine in Britain being impounded during the same period, and despite the convictions of dealers and traffickers.

The independent think-tank said dealers were able to adapt quickly to interruptions in supply, for instance by reducing purity, enabling them to maintain their profit margins.

The report estimated that between 60% and 80% of drugs would need to be seized to put major traffickers out of business - yet crackdowns on such a scale have never been achieved in the UK.

It went so far as to warn that police crackdowns could have a negative effect on the problem.

They could threaten public safety and health by "altering the drug users' behaviour and potentially…setting up violent drug gang conflicts as police move dealers from one area to another", said our correspondent.

Instead, the study's authors suggested the government concentrated on the "collateral damage" of the trade - sex markets, gangs, human trafficking, corruption, drug-related crime and anti-social behaviour.

They added that resources should be focused on disrupting "street-level markets" and tackling violence and intimidation in communities.

The criminal justice costs of class A drugs alone are estimated at £4bn a year.

Tim McSweeney, one of the report's authors, said: "We were struck by just how little evidence there is to show that the hundreds of millions of pounds spent on UK enforcement each year has made a sustainable impact."

David Blakey, of the UK Drug Policy Commission, said enforcement agencies tended to be judged by the amount they had managed to capture.

"This is a pity as it is very difficult to show that increasing drug seizures actually leads to less drug-related harm," he added.

The Home Office said seizures were only part of the government's approach, with intervention programmes getting 1,000 offenders into drug treatment each week.

"Many of the report's recommendations are already being implemented," the spokesperson added.

"Our drugs strategy encompasses enforcement, prevention, education and treatment."

Our correspondent said while few politicians would suggest that less should be spent on being tough on drugs, the government's own 10-year drugs strategy was already cautious in its claims on the effectiveness of law enforcement.

"There is a recognition that we "have to do more than just catch people and lock them up, we have to do something else, it's not working," he added.

"It is very difficult to show that increasing drug seizures actually leads to less drug-related harm" - David Blakey
UK Drug Policy Commission

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7531860.stm

The article also has several interesting graphs and links.

[Purest]

What I find interesting about that article is that the graphs show how cheap drugs could be if the criminal trade was abolished.

The criminal justice costs of class A drugs alone are estimated at £4bn a year.

And at a time of such economical instability they think thats a rational thing? I wish we could educate the proles....

[criss]

It's worrying that this is "news" to anyone. Another push towards the "war on drugs will never end" opinion for me.

The figures are interesting though, the BBC can always be relied on to produce clear and intelligible information - on a subject plagued by misinformation.

[adzket]

swim does find this very amusing as they have been done once for herion posetion and once for dpt being sent into the country, but recived no more than a courtion. swim is not complaing off course as this is cool with them. but there
is always someone ready to step into anothers shoes. and drugs are much more acsesible over the years. swim is being treated for h addiction and instead of being aloud to go to rehab swim havs been told to stay on methadone and for life and still ocasionaly use h by there doctor, this is wrong but also they want swim to give up all the other drugs they use even though they dont have any adictions with these it is about time we looked to wards other countries with a more lacks drug policy as this will never be eradicated in swims mind. and help given to those who generaly need it or ask for it if not they should be left alone.
also it is the crime asosiated with drugs like theft and prostitution that cause more problems for sosiaty, but when swim has got into trouble for drug use no one belives that they can suport there own habbit and can work still. and do not sponge from welfare ect. it is all wrong swim thinks they need to atualy speek more to users to understand why people use to.

[aerozeppelin123]

Originally Posted by criss

It's worrying that this is "news" to anyone. Another push towards the "war on drugs will never end" opinion for me.

I would have said the opposite. The more articles like this are published, the less support the war on drugs will have as people begin to understand the futility of it and become angry that their money is being wasted on enforcing it.