The Bigger Picture on the Drugs Bill
By
Maria Ahmed
The Drugs Bill, published in December 2004, has
attracted widespread criticism among drugs charities who claim it
is a piece of “political window-dressing” that fails to promote
improved care and proper resourcing for services.
What is in the Drugs Bill?
The bill contains proposals for a ‘tough package’ of measures
aimed at breaking the link between drug addiction and crime, and
getting more people into treatment, including:
• A new drug intervention order to run alongside
antisocial behaviour orders to address drug misuse by people
committing antisocial acts
• New powers for police to order ultrasounds or x-rays of
drug dealers who swallow their drugs to conceal the evidence
• New powers for police to test for class A drugs on
arrest and require those who test positive to attend an assessment
and follow-up appointment
• Making drug dealing near a school, or using children as
couriers for drugs or drug-related money, an aggravating factor in
sentencing
• Introducing a new presumption that those caught with
more drugs than reasonable for personal use intend to supply drugs,
which carries tougher penalties
• Tougher powers to deal with drug dealers who swallow
their drugs or hide them in body cavities – the police would be
able to order a drug or ultrasound and magistrate would be able to
remand suspected swallowers in custody for up to eight days
• Dealing with the open selling of magic mushrooms by
clarifying the law that fresh mushrooms, as well as prepared ones,
are illegal
A question of agenda
The main criticism of the bill is its “over-emphasis” on
criminal justice rather than social welfare and health, according
to leading drugs charities.
Drugs think-tank Transform predict the bill will be prioritised
in the run-up to the next general election, tipped for May 2005,
due to the political importance of the law and order agenda.
Transform’s information officer Steve Rolles said: “The bill is
largely populist electioneering, ill-thought out, with a miserable
lack of consultation in the drugs field.”
Other charities say that the bill does not address the need to
provide treatment to drug users in the community, who have not
committed a crime and who can be prevented from criminal activity
in the future by getting the right treatment.
Outlining their position, Drugscope and Turning Point said: “The
war on drugs is too easily interpreted as a war on drug users.
Instead, tackling substance misuse must be central to the broader
social welfare and health agenda that addresses and matches the
complex and different needs of many problem drug users.”
A question of treatment
While drugs charities and opposition parties agree that
diverting more addicts into treatment is important, they point out
that services are “all too often” unavailable.
Both Drugscope and Turning Point claim the government needs to
improve treatment programmes to retain people within the system and
increase the effectiveness of services.
Martin Barnes, chief executive of Drugscope, said: “Increased
support and help for drug misusers is welcome – but it must be more
effective – ensuring that the right person is placed on the right
programmes.”
Mark Oaten, shadow Home Secretary for the Liberal Democrats said
the government’s proposals would not work unless more was done to
provide proper treatment in prisons.
“The majority of offenders who go in with a drug habit come out
unchanged. The government must ensure that prisons are properly
resourced to break the cycle of drug-related crime,” he said.
Drugs charities say that forcing people into treatment through
the criminal justice system will not be effective, as they predict
many will drop out.
A recent Audit Commission report found that one third of drug
misusers drop out of treatment within the first 12 weeks.
Think-tank Transform also believe that measures in the Bill fail
to take into account the effectiveness of treatment.
Steve Rolle from Transform said: “We are concerned that the
primary aim of this enforced ‘treatment’ should be crime reduction
rather than the health and well being of the drug user. No health
indicators at all are mentioned in the cost benefit analysis [of
the bill], a blinkered and perverse way of evaluating”.
Turning Point and Drugscope blame the existing system for
failing to address needs beyond substance misuse such as housing,
mental health, education and employment.
Lord Victor Adebowale, chief executive of Turning Point, said:
“The most crucial thing a Drugs Bill could do is ensure services
are able to meet more than one need. People are complex and you
can’t expect them to overcome dependency if they’re still
struggling to find a house or don’t have the support they need to
get back into work.”
Charities are calling for the government to give greater
priority to commissioning treatment services in combination with
longer-term support and better after-care.
Drugscope and Turning Point highlight an “urgent” need for harm
reduction as a way to bridging users into treatment.
They say that the bill should include the introduction of safer
injecting areas where users can go without fear of arrest and
access practical advice and dispose of needles without harm to the
public.
The charities also suggest greater use of heroin prescribing,
which is currently available to the most chaotic users, as a
“useful tool” to stabilise heroin users within a strict harm
reduction agenda.
A question of workforce
Drugs charities say there should be greater investment in
training and encouraging GPs to work with drug misusers.
They highlight a shortage of appropriately trained GPs and the
lack of a co-ordinated infrastructure to support them, and point to
an estimated shortage of at least 3,000 drug staff with specialist
knowledge.
Drugscope and Turning Point want the government to put a
workforce strategy in place to attract new staff and ensure career
development.
They are also calling for more partnerships between GPs and
specialist agencies, including voluntary sector agencies,
psychiatrists and community pharamacists.
The charities said: “There is a clear need for the government to
invest in improving drug misusers access to shared care
arrangements and promoting better models of good practice.”
What next?
The bill is being fast-tracked through parliament and is due to
go for a second reading in January 2005. However, drugs charities
are hoping to “torpedo” the bill in the House of Lords and force
through some amendments.