COST OF ILLEGAL DRUGS PLUMMETS

The price of illegal drugs has fallen sharply over the past 12 years,
triggering claims that drugs are now cheaper and more attractive to young
people than alcohol. According to Home Office figures released today, the
prices of ecstasy, cocaine, heroin and cannabis have all dropped since 1990.

The cost of an ecstasy tablet fell from ?18.80 in 1990 to ?7 in 2000, while
the cost of legal, taxable drugs such as cigarettes and alcohol has risen
over the same period.

Liberal Democrat MP David Laws, who obtained the Home Office figures, said
the falling prices proved the government's bid to crack down on the drugs
trade was failing.

"The fact that prices have fallen so substantially proves that people must
be finding it easier to get drugs into the country," said Mr Laws, MP for
Yeovil.

The figures, prepared for the Home Office by the National Criminal
Intelligence Service, showed the average cost of crack cocaine had fallen
by more than ?4 per "rock" (about 0.2g) since 1990.

Heroin fell from ?90 per gram to ?63, cocaine from ?87 per gram to ?60 and
amphetamines from ?13.80 to ?9 for the same amount.

Ecstasy fell from ?18.80 to ?7 per pill and LSD from ?4.20 to ?3.40 per
tab, according to the Home Office figures.

The price of cannabis resin also fell, from ?91.80 per ounce in November
1990 to ?77 in December last year.

The only listed drug to have risen in price was herbal cannabis, which
increased from ?59.30 per ounce in 1990 to ?80 in 2001.

Mr Laws said he had tabled a parliamentary question about the cost of drugs
because of fears among police that a fall in the cost of crack cocaine had
led to a 20% rise in crime.

He said many areas, particularly rural towns and villages, did not have
sufficient resources to tackle the drugs problem, or offer help to addicts.

In 1998, it was estimated that about a million people in Britain took
ecstasy each weekend. Ecstasy-related deaths increased from eight in 1993
to 36 in 2000.

An ICM poll for the Observer last month found that more than half of
Britons aged between 16 and 24 had taken illegal drugs, as had two-fifths
of 25 to 34-year-olds and a third of those between 35 and 44.

The survey found that five million regularly used cannabis, 2.4 million
took ecstasy and two million used amphetamines and cocaine.

The home affairs select committee last week called for ecstasy to be
grouped in class B, alongside amphetamines and barbiturates, rather than in
class A, with heroin and cocaine.

But the home secretary, David Blunkett, rejected that call, saying
re-classification of the drug was "not on the government's agenda".

Mr Laws said: "The way in which we have drawn up the classification between
legal and illegal drugs may have helped to create an incentive for people
to cross from legal to illegal drugs.

"It could force more young people towards drugs, particularly in the more
deprived areas."