A dangerous muddle
It has been said of this Government that they have appointed more tsars than there were in the history of the Imperial Russian family. We even had a drugs tsar who parted company with the Government in rather acrimonious circumstances.
The Home Office now tell us that the criminal market in drugs generates £4.5 billion, that drugs-related crime costs us £12 billion, and that cocaine usage in England and Wales is virtually the highest in Europe. Now the Magistrates’ Association has stepped in to complain of the very muddled message about drugs which the Government is sending out.
Ecstasy consumption has apparently fallen somewhat. Is this something to do with the well reported deaths of young people who have taken ecstasy? I suspect so. If you turn on the radio or television, you get messages about preventing heart attacks, fire in the home, or drinking and driving. There are even threats about either the obese or smokers being denied treatment on the NHS.
Yet where are the warning messages about taking drugs, and their often terrible health consequences? Or clarity from the Government on drugs classifications? Drugs abuse is about wrecking people’s lives, and that of their families; it is at the heart of so much of youth crime. If ever there was a case for joined up government, it is between our initiative – crazed Home Office and our (“you’ve never had it so good”) Department of Health. We fail to put our collective minds to this problem at our peril.