UK DRUGS TRADE TOPS UKP7BN, STUDY SHOWS

There are about 300 major drug importers into Britain, 3,000
wholesalers and 70,000 street dealers producing a turnover of UKP7-8bn a
year, according to an internal Home Office estimate revealed today.

This official indication of the astonishing scale of the drugs trade
in Britain, although very rough, has led Home Office researchers to
calculate that by value it represents about a third of the size of the
tobacco market in Britain and two-fifths of the trade in alcohol.

Article continues The estimates are contained in a Home Office
research study published today based on prison interviews with 222
convicted high-level drug dealers. This reveals that about
three-quarters of drug dealers attempt to grow their operations, enjoy
mark-ups of 16,800% on heroin and 15,800% on cocaine, and now employ
salaried staff as runners and storers.

The research also shows that prison is not seen as a serious deterrent
and is only regarded as an "occupational hazard or an unlikely risk".
A prison sentence meant handing an established enterprise onto an
employee or colleague.

By contrast, recent asset recovery action under which drug trade
proceeds are seized is regarded as a much bigger threat.

"People who are arrested are losing everything that they have - even
the things they acquired through honest means," one convicted dealer
told the researchers.

"If you buy a home or a car or any possessions you will lose it when
you get caught, and nearly everyone gets caught," said another.

The study is published alongside a clutch of other Home Office
research reports on the drugs situation in Britain.

They show that the number of problem drug users - those dependent on
opiates such as heroin or cocaine or a number of drugs - has remained
stable at around 332,000 in England and Wales in the past year. Drug
prices have also continued to decline over time.

The government's drug harm index, which is its principal way of
measuring the success of its strategy, was also published today and
shows a further fall from 89.1 in 2004 to 83.4 in 2005.

The Home Office said this was largely due to further reductions in
drug-related crime, most notably domestic and commercial burglaries,
theft from cars, and shoplifting. A fall in drug-related hepatitis C
cases however was more than offset by a rise in drug-related deaths
from 1,495 in 2004 to 1,608 in 2005.