DEALERS IN ECSTASY OVER ANTI-DRUGS CAMPAIGNS

Does it occur to our drugs tsar ("The new epidemic", May 26) that the
increase in drug use in the past five years might be directly caused
by the policies he espouses. By outlawing recreational drug users, he
pushes them into the social ghetto of other users and suppliers,
thereby ensuring the establishment of a drugs subculture beyond the
reach of normal peer exchange. By insisting that supplies can only be
obtained from illegal and therefore ungovernable sources, he
guarantees the impurity and inconsistencies in strength that are the
real cause of most drug-related illness and fatalities.

By refusing to consider regulating supplies on prescription, he pushes
users firmly into a cycle of need that in most cases can only be
satisfied by resorting to crime, with all the costs and misery that
entails for all of us. And worst of all, by keeping market prices high
and supplies insecure, he provides the perfect incentive for drug
suppliers to take big risks in return for high profits. If I were a
drugs dealer, I would be pumping large sums of money into the
anti-drugs campaigns, as the surest investment I could make in the
future of my business.

Name and address supplied

Cocaine does not cost UKP10 a wrap, and didn't cost UKP30 three years
ago, and ecstasy pills do not cost UKP5. Unless buying in bulk, the
going rate is UKP50 and UKP10 respectively. This kind of scarmongering
does not add to serious debate about drugs.

Terry Shane
Enfield,
Middlesex

Though research now shows unequivocally that drug treatment works and
that its benefits outweigh the costs (with one recent study estimating
a saving of UKP3 for every UKP1 spent), this is only true for services
which are properly delivered, by well-trained and supervised staff.

Together with the Kings Fund, we have developed a set of standards for
treatment providers which more than 40 treatment centres are committed
to implementing and against which their performance will be
independently audited. Our concern is that whilst the latest report
from the drug tsar calls for an increase in the overall level of
treatment, it makes no stipulation about quality. There is a clear
danger of higher quality services being discriminated against in
favour of cheaper less effective alternatives - with long-term costs
for those with addictions, their families and the public at large.

Simon Shepherd European Association for the Treatment of
Addiction

You report that the government intends to shift the emphasis of policy
from punishment to the treatment of drug users. But how will this be
financed, given the government has announced only small increases in
funding? Will it cut the budgets of the police and legal system to
fund treatment? Or will it, as part of a policy of a maximum waiting
time of four weeks for treatment of drug users, increase waiting times
elsewhere in the NHS?

Prof Alan Maynard
York Health Policy Group