SEIZURES FAIL TO STAUNCH FLOOD OF DRUGS

CUSTOMS OFFICERS are failing to stop traffickers swamping Britain with drugs
despite record seizures, according to evidence published yesterday by the
Government spending watchdog.

During the past nine years the street price of most drugs has fallen or
stayed about the same when inflation is taken into account, suggesting
supply has not been dented by the actions of the authorities.

The average number of people sentenced for drug smuggling since 1989 has
also slumped from 1,500 a year to just over 1,000.

The National Audit Office, the organisation responsible for examining
whether public bodies provide value for money, concluded that the price
trends suggested that Customs and Excise have not restricted the supply of
drugs.

The auditors praised customs for seizing a record amount of drugs in the
year up to April 1998 when they nearly doubled their target and confiscated
drugs estimated to be worth UKP3.3bn as well as breaking up 130 smuggling
rings. Drug seizures have risen by about 22 per cent every year for the past
nine years.

But this success appears to have had no effect upon the street availability
of drugs. Only 10 per cent of drugs are believed to be seized by the
authorities.

Analysis of customs' data reveals that in the past nine years synthetic
drugs such as Ecstasy and amphetamine have dropped by almost 40 per cent in
price after inflation. Cocaine has seen a decline of nearly a fifth, while
heroin and herbal cannabis have remained the same. Only cannabis resin rose
in cost by about a third. By contrast alcohol and tobacco have increased by
about nearly two-thirds since 1989/90.

Low prices at a time when more people are taking illegal substances almost
certainly shows that there is an expanding supply of drugs. The report added
that while customs have been successful in jailing traffickers "other
organisations may have stepped in to make up any shortfall".

Chairman of the Commons Public Accounts Committee, David Davis, expressed
concern that while seizures were increasing, the number of people
successfully prosecuted for drug smuggling had declined by almost one-third
since 1980. Part of the reason may be because customs are worried about
their investigation techniques being revealed in court under new legal
rules.

Mike Goodman, director of Release, the national drug agency, said: "The
amount of drugs getting stopped by the authorities will be in the order of 5
to 15 per cent. From the cost of drugs on the streets it would appear that
this is having virtually no impact on domestic consumption."

A report published last week estimated that the illegal drugs market in
Britain is worth up to UKP8.6bn a year. The Office of National Statistics'
figures suggest that drug dealing is the biggest illegal economic activity
in the UK. Problem users spent an estimated UKP2.2bn on drugs in 1996,
regular recreational users UKP1.6bn, of which UKP1bn went on cannabis,
UKP208m on amphetamines, UKP135m on cocaine and UKP125m on Ecstasy.
Occasional drug takers spent UKP250m.

Checked-by: "Rolf Ernst"