Minister says war on drugs is slipping

The battle against drugs is being lost by government, the
regeneration and housing minister has admitted.

Yvette Cooper said that, despite the progress made in areas such as
teenage pregnancy, solutions to drugs problems in many poor areas
remained elusive.

“Drugs is the one issue that is really hard to turn around,” she
said. “There’s a lot of investment going into drug treatment but it
is really difficult to keep up. This is a very serious
problem.”

Cooper was responding to a question at the Urban Forum annual
conference about the problems facing regeneration professionals,
especially in areas of high unemployment.

She said that, in areas where there were few job opportunities,
young people were drawn into the drugs trade. She added that the
government was considering providing vocational courses at 14
instead of 16 to prevent children heading for poor GCSE grades and
dropping out of school.