POLICE LOSING FIGHT AGAINST DRUGS TRADE DESPITE BILLIONS SPENT

Police and customs are fighting a losing battle against the illegal
drugs trade despite billions of pounds being spent every year on
fighting it, according to a new report.

The price of cocaine has halved in some areas since 2000 while heroin
has fallen in price by 35 pc and the "extremely resilient" drugs
industry is now worth 41 per cent of the legal alcohol market, it says.

A crackdown that has seen seizures of class A drugs more than double
since 2006 to nearly 40,000 has had little impact on the supply of or
demand for drugs.

An estimated 60 to 80 pc of all drugs would need to be regularly
removed from the streets in order to put major traffickers out of
business, the report by the UK Drug Policy Commission warns.

Seizure rates on this scale have never been achieved in Britain, with
an estimated 12 pc of heroin and 9 pc of cocaine in Britain being
impounded between 1996 and 2005, or anywhere else.

Last year 1.5 tonnes of heroin and 4.4m ectsasy tablets were sezied by
the Serious Organised Crime Agency, according to the report.

But each year 20 tonnes of heroin, 18 tonnes of cocaine and 16 tonnes
of crack change hands on the British drugs market, while 412 tonnes of
cannabis and 60 million ecstasy tablets are thought to be bought and
sold.

The Commission suggests that traditional crime-fighting tactics are
simply not working and that the UKP5.3bn British drugs market is "too
fluid" for law enforcement agencies to deal with.

It also claims that even high-profile swoops on "drugs factories" and
significant convictions of leading dealers usually fail to have a
noticeable impact on supply, due to the industry's ability to adapt
quickly to disruption. Dealers simply reduce purity to maintain their
profit margins, the report says.

In 2005/06, the Government spent UKP380m just on reducing supply in
England, the report says, while the annual cost to the criminal
justice system of dealing with Class A drug alone is thought to be
more than UKP4 billion.

Tim McSweeney, one of the authors of the report, said: "We were struck
by just how little evidence there is to show that the hundreds of
millions of pounds spent on UK enforcement each year has made a
sustainable impact and represents value for money."

The report calls for more resources to be devoted to reducing the
"collateral damage" of drugs on communities, by tackling gang violence
and prostitution. Its authors say this would have a greater impact on
the drugs trade than traditional hauls.

David Blakey CBE QPM, from the UK Drug Policy Commission, said: "All
enforcement agencies aim to reduce drug harms and most have formed
local partnerships to do this, but they still tend to be judged by
measures of traditional supply-side activity such as seizure rates.

"This is a pity as it is very difficult to show that increasing drug
seizures actually leads to less drug-related harm. Of course, drug
dealers must be brought to justice, but we should recognise and
encourage the wider role that the police and other law enforcement
officials can play in reducing the impact of drug markets on our
communities."

Responding to the report, a Home Office spokesman said that seizures
were only part of the Government's approach to fighting drug crime.

He said: "Many of the report's recommendations are already being
implemented. Our drugs strategy encompasses enforcement, prevention,
education and treatment."

He added that "intervention" programmes were seeing 1,000 offenders
each week move into drug treatment.