So we're the most spaced out then? Actually, the French smoke more cannabis but for most other drugs we lead Europe. More generally, this report from the UK Drug Policy Commission summarises research that will be familiar to those in the field or indeed anyone on nodding acquaintance with youth culture - cannabis is still the most commonly used illegal drug, there's less use of ecstasy than back in the days of rave culture, and speed and acid are now "minority tastes", certainly compared with binge drinking. Crack and cocaine are increasing causes for concern but heroin remains the most problematic drug.
And there's a link to crime? Yes, acquisitive crimes to pay for drugs, "psycho-pharmocological" crimes committed because you're off your head, and systemic crime - the violence and corruption associated with the drugs trade. However, the causes of crime and drug use are so complex that the researchers conclude you can't link changes in crime rates with the effectiveness of drugs policy.
Are we doing enough to tackle drugs? The core message of this report seems to be that we are doing a lot, but not much seems to make any difference in stopping young people having access to or taking drugs. From Heroin Screws You Up to the knowing humour of Frank, the report says there's no evidence in the UK or anywhere else of education campaigns reducing initiation to drugs. Enforcement takes up the vast majority of anti-drug spending - though precisely how much it is impossible to tell. Drug seizures have gone up, but street prices continue to plummet. Use of imprisonment has increased, leading, it is suggested, only to greater costs to the public and fuller prisons. Sending the army into Afghanistan and elsewhere has also failed to stem supply. Treatment and harm reduction is the one area the commission feels makes a difference. It has avoided an HIV epidemic, saves individual lives and reduces associated harm in a cost-effective way, although treatment is variable in quality and availability.
How's all that going down? It puts drugs bodies in a difficult spot. DrugScope, for example, welcomed the commission but it has been campaigning strongly in the past month against a 10 per cent cut in "education, prevention and treatment" projects for young people. The notion that two-thirds of that is pointless is not exactly grist to their mill.
So the commission's conclusions are ...? Shift funding towards treatment and harm reduction and invest more in independent evaluation to find out which policies do actually work.
FACT BOX
- The UK Drug Policy Commission was set up with the support of the Esmee Fairbairn Foundation to analyse evidence and explore policy options
- The level of HIV infection among UK injecting drug users is much lower than in similar European UK countries - 1.6 per cent compared with more than 20 per cent in Spain and 14 per cent in France
- The street price of a gram of heroin dropped from 70 in 2004 to 54 in 2005
- About a quarter of those born between 1976 and 1980 have used a class A drug at least once
- An Analysis of UK Drug Policy can be found on www.ukdpc.org.uk.
