DRUG USERS NEED HELP NOT JAIL, SAY POLICE CHIEFS

Britain's most senior police officers criticised the lack of drug
rehabilitation places yesterday as they called for a shift in emphasis from
jailing drug addicts to treating them.

Drug agencies last night welcomed the proposals from the Association of
Chief Police Officers (Acpo) and also called for an end to the postcode
lottery of treatment for addicts.

But Danny Kushlick, director of campaign group Transform, said it was
disappointing that the Acpo report did not support "shooting galleries",
where addicts can inject in safe surroundings.

He said: "Acpo are treading a very fine path by continuing to enforce
legislation that creates and exacerbates crime and at the same time
suggesting that treatment is the way forward."

The document by Acpo, published yesterday, said that demand continued to
outstrip availability of treatment services and was likely to get worse
following the introduction of drug testing on arrestees. It added:
"Accessibility to treatment for young people and clients from
ethnic-minority groups remains difficult."

The report, A Review of Drugs Policy and Proposals for the Future,
concluded: "Acpo looks forward to when detainees appearing in court
following the misuse of class A drugs are able to have the opportunity to
immediately access treatment that is proven to work."

In response, a Home Office spokesman said funding for the National
Treatment Agency, which pays for treatment services, had been increased
from ?234m to ?400m this year and described the report as "useful". Simon
Hughes, the Liberal Democrat home affairs spokesman, welcomed the study.
"The greater the number of senior law enforcement officers who understand
that, for the user, drugs are more of a health issue than a criminal issue,
the better."

But Ann Widdecombe, a Tory former shadow home secretary, insisted that a
zero tolerance policy was the most effective way of dealing with the
problem of drug abuse. However, the chief officers said they were still
opposed to the decriminalisation of drugs.

The police chiefs want heroin and cocaine addicts to be sent automatically
for treatment rather than being prosecuted in court when they are caught
breaking the law to feed their habit. They also acknowledged the police
would have to take a more liberal approach to cannabis possession.

Andy Hayman, spokesman on drugs issues for Acpo and Deputy Assistant
Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police Service, said yesterday: "If we can
break the cycle of reoffending we can reduce crime, but that's dependent on
the fact there's treatment available and what works."

He added: "We are saying it is a health problem so why put them in front of
a court, or a jury, or a magistrate? If [the treatment] does not work they
have to go to the punitive option."

The proposal to forgo the court appearance for many drug-related offences
would need a change in the law before it could take place.

The document also accepted that with the Home Office plans later this year
to downgrade cannabis to a class C drug - no longer making it an arrestable
offence - the police would have to take a softer approach to users.

It partly rejected the system being piloted in Brixton, south London,
whereby anyone caught with a small quantity of cannabis was let off with a
verbal warning and had the drug confiscated. Instead the police planned to
draw up a graded response in which some individuals, such as teenagers,
motorists and people causing trouble, who were caught with the drug would
face prosecution. Others would be let off with a warning.