Tackling poverty and social exclusion should be “at the heart” of UK drug policy along with public health and harm reduction, a new drug charity alliance said today.
The Drugs and Health Alliance, made up of organisations and individuals in the drugs field, said there was an “overwhelming” body of evidence to show that the government’s criminal justice-led approach had failed.
It wants to influence the future of UK drugs policy as the government’s ten-year drugs strategy comes to an end this year.
Danny Kushlick, director of Transform Drugs Policy Foundation, said: “DHA is calling for the upcoming drugs strategy to reallocate resources away from enforcement and towards a public health approach to drugs.
It is truly criminal that the government has not seen fit to publicly audit the enforcement approach to drugs and compare it with health interventions.”
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