WHITEHALL ACCUSED OF DRUGS COVER-UP

Watchdog Asks Officials to Rethink Use of Statistics

Document Obscures Policy Failures, Say Campaigners

The Home Office has been accused of misusing its statistics on drugs
in order to cover up failures in policy. The independent body
responsible for providing and assessing government statistics has now
asked the Home Office to "carefully consider" its handling of the figures.

In July the Home Office released a consultation paper - Drugs: Our
Community, Your Say. It contained a section called "key facts and
evidence" in the annexe which put a very positive gloss on the
government's policies.

Other statistics indicating that the government had failed to achieve
its targets were obscured, according to drug reformers. Danny
Kushlick, director of the campaigning Transform Drug Policy
Foundation, complained to the Statistics Commission. The chairman of
the commission, Prof David Rhind, accepted many of his points and has
asked the Home Office to explain itself.

"We think that most people would expect it [the annexe to the
document] to provide a balanced presentation of the relevant
statistical and other evidence," Rhind said in a letter to Sir David
Normington, permanent secretary at the Home Office. "This particular
annexe is more like a briefing document. Where a target has been met
or exceeded, as is the case with the target to increase participation
of problem drug users in treatment programmes, this is highlighted .
but where the target has been missed or seems likely to be missed the
relevant information is presented in a low-key way without
acknowledging that a target exists."

Rhind added that "issues of public trust in official statistics" have
recently been considered by parliament. He has suggested that the
Home Office should "carefully consider" the criticisms.

Kushlick said the Home Office's use of statistics was a symptom of
the government's refusal to accept that its drugs policy was not working.

The government had failed to achieve its target of reducing class A
drug use among young people but failed to mention this, he said.

He added: "One of the outcomes of the government's unwillingness to
allow public scrutiny of the overwhelmingly negative outcomes of
current policy is that the debate on potential alternatives to
prohibition are dismissed as unnecessary and irrelevant. This is
despite the 10-year drug strategy delivering almost the exact
opposite of its stated goals, costing billions a year, and creating
over #100bn more in crime costs over the past decade, according to
the government's own figures."

A Home Office spokeswoman said that it had responded to Rhind's
letter and stood by the statistics quoted "which are an accurate
reflection of current progress with the existing drug strategy".

She added: "The Home Office takes very seriously the need to ensure
that we always publish accurate and robust data ... we are making
progress in reducing all drug use amongst young and vulnerable people.

"The level of class A drug use has stabilised, and is therefore not
increasing. In order to fully meet our target of reducing this class
A drug use by young and vulnerable people a cross-government action
plan has been developed to improve prevention, education and access
to treatment."