POLICE SHOULD NOT HAVE THE POWER TO TEST SUSPECTS FOR DRUGS

Dear Peter,

Tony Blair's call for mandatory drug testing for people arrested for
criminal offences is little more than cynical rhetoric aimed at pandering
to the law-and-order lobby. This is policy formation on the hoof: there has
been no consultation with practitioners or government departmental
specialists to assess the effectiveness or repercussions of pursuing this
initiative.

Of course there is a clear link between illegal drug use and acquisitive
crime. But the under-lying reason for this is the high price of illegal
drugs on the unregulated market. Let's not forget that there is little if
any property crime associated with tobacco addiction. Why? Purely because
the price is low.

Suddenly the talk is of a "war on drugs". Why no "war on alcohol", by far
the most important precursor to violent offending? Or a war on tobacco, by
far the biggest killer?

It seems as if Tony Blair is marking his political territory like a tom
cat. Apart from causing a stink, this will do nothing to address the
underlying reasons for drug misuse that he claims others have ducked for so
long.

What problematic illegal drug users need and want is access to effective
treatment options before their offending even begins. This latest
initiative flies in the face of more progressive measures that this
government has been instrumental in developing up to now.

Yours sincerely,
Danny Kushlick
Director, Transform: The Campaign for an Effective Drug Policy