MORE EFFORT NEEDED TO CURE DRUG OFFENDERS, TORY MP SAYS

The sentencing of drug offenders should place greater emphasis on
curing addiction, a Conservative MP argues today in another
potentially contentious incursion for the party into social policy.

In a pamphlet for the Bow Group thinktank, Humfrey Malins, MP for
Woking, calls for a radical expansion of residential centres for drug
offenders and an increase in the number of so-called drugs courts,
which are more likely to promote rehabilitation rather than
punishment for offenders.

"Yes, these people are indeed criminals, but I suggest in many cases
they are also victims who need help as much, if not more than,
punishment," Mr Malins says - comments likely to provoke indignation
among much of the Tory rank-and-file. In the pamphlet, titled
Crackpot: a fresh approach to drugs policy, Mr Malins hints that
decriminalising drugs may one day have to be the answer if other
methods fail. "I cannot bring myself yet to embrace that view," he says.

Mr Malins argues for a "zero tolerance" response to cannabis use, in
particular among the young, which he says is a gateway to more
serious drug use. He says it should be reclassified from class C to
class B, with courts requiring users to attend a course on its
dangers. All schools should carry out compulsory random drugs tests
and under-18s arrested for a "trigger offence" should be tested for drugs.

More than 1 million adults use class A drugs, according to the
British crime survey. Mr Malins argues that around a quarter of those
could be termed "problematic users", who are likely to have poor
health and education and many of whom - perhaps 100,000 - commit
crime to fund their habits. Two drugs courts, based on an American
model, are currently being piloted in London and Leeds.

The pamphlet does not come with the seal of approval from party
leader David Cameron's team. None the less, it illustrates the kind
of thinking being done by the front bench as it seeks to generate
creative thinking around social problems.

A review of social justice policy headed by former leader Iain Duncan
Smith produced a paper on the costs of addiction last month. Mr
Duncan Smith believes drugs are too often seen simply as a law and
order problem, a point underlined by Mr Malins. "A cured drug addict
is better for society than a punished one," he says.

Mr Malins, a deputy district judge and crown court recorder, claims
that half of the beds available in the 119 residential rehabilitation
centres in England are empty. He blames lack of referrals from drug
action teams and failings in the criminal justice system.

The state should "pour resources" into residential rehabilitation
beds. He also argues that countries that provide residential beds
more cheaply, such as South Africa, could be paid to take offenders.