LABOUR PUTS SCHOOLS IN FRONT LINE OF WAR ON DRUGS

A NEW crackdown on drugs, linked to measures to "choke off demand" among
young people, will be unveiled by the Government tomorrow.

The package of measures to be announced in a White Paper will include more
intensive efforts in the classroom to prevent children getting hooked, plus
an international drive to attack the drug barons.

Ann Taylor, Leader of the Commons, is to disclose details of the crackdown
to MPs in a White Paper that Downing Street sources yesterday described as
"ground breaking". But it is not expected to pave the way to the eventual
decriminalisation of cannabis.

The illegal drug business is now valued at around #250bn a year, or eight
per cent of total world trade, making it more lucrative than tourism or the
oil industry.

Britain is to sound the alarm at the G8 summit in Birmingham next month and
at a special session of the United Nations assembly in June, warning that
closer international co-operation is required to counter the menace of
drugs.

The White Paper, which will be jointly launched with Keith Hellawell, the
Government's "drugs czar", will outline a 10-year strategy against drug
misuse, starting in primary schools, combining a mixture of tough and
preventive measures.

It reveals that almost half of under-25s have used illegal drugs, and at
least half of all recorded crime has a drug-related element. There are
between 100,000 and 200,000 drug addicts in the UK, and the cost of coping
with drugs - including policing - runs at more than #4bn a year.

The strategy will target young people, aiming to reduce the number of under
25s using illegal drugs, and getting into treatment those who need it on
the basis that "treatment works". But ministers promise to continue to be
tough on those who deserve to be punished.

For the first time, the Government will acknowledge the link between drugs
and other social problems, arguing that drugs do not occur in isolation,
but are linked to crime, housing, employment and education issues. The
White Paper will link drugs policy to these other areas.

Tony Blair said yesterday: "The fight against the evil of drugs is part of
a wider range of policies to renew our communities and ensure decent
opportunities are available to everyone.

"They are policies for the long-term. I hope that this tough new package of
measures will mean the end of a life of misery for many young people and
will improve the quality of life for all those who currently suffer as a
result of drugs."

New Home Office statistics show that one in five of those arrested for a
random sample of offences had taken heroin or other opiates in the previous
few days, and one in 10 had taken cocaine or crack. Illegal income was also
much higher for drug-takers. A typical offender spends between #6,000 and
#16,000 a year on heroin or crack, funded in most cases by property crime.