UK Drug Policy and Strategies

This assignment delves into the complexities of UK drug policy, analyzing current strategies, governmental approaches, and challenges faced. It highlights the impact of drug supply on policing resources and explores alternative government strategies like the 'Drug Strategy Board' for improved accountability and governance. The assignment emphasizes the importance of a collaborative approach between government and society to reduce drug consumption, support rehabilitation, and create a safer, healthier society.

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Abstract
The harmful effects of drugs are extensive and affect the lives of the drug addicts at each level.
The drug offenders commit crimes which encourages dependence on drugs, exploitation,
violence and organized criminality which further results in irreparable loss and damage to the
individuals and families destroying the lies of the individuals. It is equally important to address
the factors that often lead to drug consumption and measures should be undertaken to tackle the
threats that emerge from such drug use and misuse of illegal substances. Therefore, the
governmental policies and organizational structure of the country strives to recognize and
emphasize on the broader support that is required by the drug addicts and enable them sustain
and achieve a life that is drug and crime free.

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Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................3
Background......................................................................................................................................3
Reducing Demand.......................................................................................................................3
Restricting Supply.......................................................................................................................5
Building Recovery.......................................................................................................................6
Recovery systems........................................................................................................................7
Global Actions.............................................................................................................................7
Prevention of drug use through courts.............................................................................................8
Perception of Contemporary society regarding impact of drug crime............................................8
Legal and Social Issues....................................................................................................................9
Prevention, Treatment and Sentencing strategies for Drug offenders...........................................10
Supply and use of illegal drugs contribute to a significant demand on limited policing resources
.......................................................................................................................................................11
Alterative government strategies...................................................................................................11
Conclusion.....................................................................................................................................12
Reference List................................................................................................................................13

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Introduction
The persistency in the misuse of drugs and its detrimental impact on humans as well as
the community signifies the intricacy in this issue that cannot be resolved solely. Besides the
national and the local governments, international partners and the community sector, the public
should contribute in resolving this growing concern. The situation has worsened over the last
quarter of the twentieth century and has mostly affected the youths who fall prey to illness,
crimes, death and other social problems as they become dependent on drugs like cocaine and
heroin, in particular. If the UK government and other law enforcement agencies develop
strategies to reduce the use of drugs and deter the related harms amongst the younger population,
it is equally important to comprehend the roles played by both legal and illegal drugs in the lives
of the young people and other drug users.
Background
The misuse of drugs results in significant impact on health and society. The misuse of
drugs is perceived as both the cause and outcome of broad factors such as mental ill health and
other physical problems. The approach and the means that is used by justice agencies to deal
with the use and supply of drugs is based on four essential themes, namely, reducing demand,
restricting the supply, global action and building recovery.
Reducing Demand
According to Bean (2014), the UK government aims at safeguarding individuals and
society from the detrimental effect of the misuse of drugs by preventing from consuming drugs
altogether. In order to prevent the alcohol and drug dependence, the government sets out action

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that is required to ensure an effective global approach at both the local and national levels for
deterring the use of drugs, thus, prevent commission of crimes due to the consumption or misuse
of drugs.
Present policies and organizational structures
PHE is an approach that extends support to the local areas by initiating measures to
improve the wellbeing and health by providing guidance under the Healthy Child Program for
the school nurses, midwives and health visitor, etc. This is because schools play a significant role
in assisting young people and children to develop resilience and confidence that is required to
make a positive contribution to the British society (Disch 2016).
The broader approach to prevent the drug addiction strives to undertake an evidence-
based approach for preventing substance misuse. For instance, it aims at expanding the Alcohol
and Drugs Education and Prevention Information Service (ADEPSIS) that is a leading source
of evidence-based information and resources for drug and alcohol education and prevention,
which purports to reach young people through schools or other settings. The other initiatives
include fostering European Drug Prevention Quality Standards (EDPQS) principles to enable
partners examine and develop the quality of drug prevention initiatives. The education providers
like college and universities extend support to their students with the promotion of the UK Anti-
Doping’s Clean Sport University Accreditation Scheme, which promotes prevention of drugs by
providing a positive healthy and drug-free culture and living for students as well as the public
who uses the campus facilities (Dikic, Djurdjevic and McNamee 2017).
People like the homeless and prostitutes, are at greater risk of drug misuse as it can be
perceived as both the cause and misuse of drugs. In order to tackle drug abuse in this respect, the

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2016 Violence against Women and Girls Strategy is said to be used to deal with prostitution and
the harms, which also includes misuse of substance, and it extends its support to those who
wishes to leave such profession. For the homeless who are equally prone to the risk of drug
misuse, the Homelessness Prevention Program enables the local areas to develop a holistic
approach to prevent and reduce homelessness by fulfilling their needs (Coy 2017).
Restricting Supply
As per research studies, approximately 45% offences are committed by offenders who
usually consume heroin/cocaine. However, the UK criminal justice system endows with a
fundamental opportunity to tackle misuse of drugs and ensure that the individual has effective
access to the needed support (Godlee and Hurley 2016). The second approach to restrict the
supply of drugs aims at reducing the high rate of serious and organized crimes that tend to affect
the interest of the country and its nationals as well.
Present policies
As per the Serious and Organized Crimes Strategy the UK government and the
enforcement agencies persist to tackle the organized criminals and the enablers of criminality
related to distribution of drugs and drug trafficking. The legal framework that exercises control
over drug consumption is the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971 (MDA), which remains to be the
primary legislative framework to prevent the misuse of drugs. The government does not intend to
decriminalize drugs, however, since drugs have been proved to have harmful impact on human
health, if consumed, it is considered illegal (Godlee and Hurley 2016).
The enactment of Psychoactive Substances Act 2016 signifies the fundamental changes
in the manner how the supply of psychoactive substances is tackled. This statute ceases the

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availability of the psychoactive substances from open sales on the high streets of UK, thus,
putting an end to the rapidly growing nature of the market. Thus, the implementation of the
statute has enabled the law enforcement agencies to tackle these issues at each level in the
society and prevent the risk it posed to the users and the society as well. According to section 58
of the Act requires the Home Office to review the implementation of this statute within 30
months from its enforcement to ensure its effectiveness in deterring use of psychoactive
substances and preventing the society from its harmful impact (Disch 2016).
The internet being one of the significant enablers of criminality as it is being used to buy
and sell illegal drugs, thus, evading law enforcement action. The marketing and distribution of
controlled substances through hidden/darknet continues to develop but the government aims at
tackling the criminal use of the darknet through the provisions set out in the National Security
Strategy and Strategic Defense and Security Review 2015. It is evident from the arrest of
Darknet’s most popular British vendors and his business partner in February 2016 after the
NCA investigated that they were buying and selling catalogued drugs like cocaine,
methamphetamine.
Building Recovery
There has been progress made by the UK government to support people from recovering
from their dependence on drugs. This evident from the fact that it has confirmed the continuation
of the Public Health Grant to the local authorities that provides financial assistance to the alcohol
and drug services (Bean 2014).
Present policies and organizational structures

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The Health and Social Care Act 2012 ensures that welfare and health are given priority
especially the vulnerable people. The service user contributed significantly to the evolution of
effective alcohol and drug treatment systems. The local alcohol and drug treatment
commissioners must assure that their commissioned services are effective and safe to improve
the health of the individuals enabling them to recover from drug dependency.
Recovery systems
Drug Misuse and Dependence: UK Guidelines on Clinical Management extends
support to ensure improved health of the drug and alcohol offenders in prisons. The governors
exercises control over the treatment and services in the prison, which enables them to ensure
persistency of treatment with the services n the community.
Present policies
In order to extend support commissioners to undertake effective services, the Health and
Justice Information System has been introduced to provide effective measures to assess the
effectiveness of the drug treatment systems within the custodial settings.
Global Actions
The UK is known as the global leader in tackling harms that result from drugs. It aims at
reducing the global demand and supply for drugs, which ultimately enables us to reduce the
impact of drugs at home ((Bean 2014). This is evident from the fact that being a member of the
European Union UK works in association with the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs
and Drug Action.
Present policies and organizational structures

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On April 2016, the country enhanced its cooperation in delivering an effective approach
with the UN Drug Conventions by agreeing to implement the commitments set out in the
‘Outcome Document’. Some of the provisions include enhancement of international action in
tackling harms posed by drugs and psychoactive substances; to fortify cooperation between the
UN agencies and ensure the roles of the UN Commission on Narcotic Drugs and the UN Office
on Drugs and Crime. The UK has a history of delivering human rights obligations, which
include guaranteed access to measures and treatment, that reduce the harms posed by the use of
drugs and are proportionate to the criminal justice responses.
Prevention of drug use through courts
Community sentences that require treatment may provide the courts with an alternative
option for custody where it may allow to take out the most vulnerable and chaotic person out of
prisons and guide them towards community based interventions that would be more effective
than the courts-based interventions. On the contrary, the judges in problem-solving courts like
the drug courts, tends to oversee the progress in treatment through the court-based reviews. This
implies that judiciary plays a fundamental role in extending support to the drug offenders to live
a drug and crime free life. Therefore, the Ministry of Justice has considered continuing with the
initiatives that already exist at the grass root level in the country. This is evident from the prison
reforms as stipulated in the Prison Safety and Reform White Paper where prisoners will be
supported for rehabilitation and given trainings and assistance to develop skills that will further
enable them to lead a productive and drug free life.

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Perception of Contemporary society regarding impact of drug crime
According to Tilley and Sidebottom (2017) Decriminalization of drugs is not the solution
for tackling the intricacy involved in drug related problems and neither it is sufficient to consider
the harmful impact that results from consumption of drugs on the individual. However, Coy
(2017) argues that the legal framework, which includes the MDA 1971, is an approach to tackle
the problems associated with misuse of drugs and alcohol.
The contemporary era considers that though the adoption of punitive approach would be
an effective deterrent for the drug offenders but there are fewer chances that the offender will not
commit crimes or will stop consuming alcohol and misusing drugs. Therefore, drug treatment is
perceived as the most appropriate as well as an effective way to tackle the growing use of drugs.
Godlee and Hurley (2016) believe it would assist people to surmount their dependency on drugs
for survival, which would ultimately reduce drug consumption and improve their health. A
decline in drug consumption implies reduces offending and crimes and relieving the families and
communities from the outcomes of dependency on drugs and alcohol.
Further, most of the people are not sympathetic towards the drug addicts because they
have used illegal substances. However, such behavior signifies a lack of understanding about
nature of addiction and this stigmatization is a significant reason that makes it harder for the drug
addicts to start afresh. Therefore, it is important for the government and the society to ensure that
stigmatization is tackled while developing policies to rehabilitate the drug addicts and offenders.
Legal and Social Issues
a) Use of Drug- Disch (2016) states that drug addiction have a broad impact including the
family of the drug addicts. It not only affects the career, education of the drug user but

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also have an adverse impact on his family and future. The social stigma that the drug
addicts faces also engulfs his/her family, often leading to breakdown of family ties. Apart
from the social effect, the legal effect of drug consumption shall result in life
imprisonment if the drug offender consumes Class A drugs like cocaine or heroin or
imprisonment for 14 years in case of Class B and C drugs consumption under MDA.
b) Mandatory Drug testing- It is important for employees and employers at workplace shall
be subjected to drug testing especially in construction industry or transport industry to
ensure safety. However, it has not become mandatory, as there is no evidence that proves
that drug testing in office deters people from consuming drugs as found by Independent
Inquiry on Drug Testing at Work.
c) Drug and Driving- In UK, it is illegal to drive if the person driving is on legal or illegal
drugs or if the person has certain level of illegal drugs in his blood, even if it does not
affect your driving. However, Godlee and Hurley (2016) state that drug and driving poses
serious risk to the pedestrians, in particular, and other cars on the road, which may result
in fatal accidents. Thus, to ensure safety of the people and the person driving, it is a better
option not to contravene the laws.
Prevention, Treatment and Sentencing strategies for Drug offenders
The NHS have variety of services for the users of drugs where after the offenders are
arrested, the police forces and local authorities identify them and start dealing with them which
includes drug testing, treatment and assessment by the drug workers. As mentioned earlier,
decriminalization of drugs would not deter the use of drugs neither it will deal with the factors
that lead them into drug consumption. However, the legal framework that punishes the drug
offenders with life imprisonment or imprisonment for 14 years for the consumption of Class A

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and Class B and C drugs respectively cannot solely deter consumption of drugs and offending.
Therefore, in order to prevent the offenders from re-offending, sentencing strategies should be
accompanied with treatment and prevention strategies that have been undertaken by the
government as evident from the reforms in prisons of UK, which includes trainings and
assistance to the offenders for leading a productive life.
Supply and use of illegal drugs contribute to a significant demand on limited policing
resources
The UK Drug Policy Commission (UKDPC) states that the areas that are likely to suffer
the most include the test purchasing of drugs, drug-related undercover surveillance operations
and forensic testing and all these areas have a harmful effect on the operations that are carried
out to get hold of influential traffickers and drug importers. However, the report of UKDPC
states that almost 58% of the police forces are reluctant to spend time on tackling illicit drug
issues. Further, the expenses incurred to rehabilitate and develop policies to deter use and supply
of drugs, have caused decline in their funding, and thus limiting their resources. However, the
UK government assures that by excluding unnecessary expenses and working efficiently, savings
ca be made while safeguarding the frontline services comprising the police forces (Disch 2016).
Alterative government strategies
Apart from the existing governmental strategies and policies, the UK government aims at
establishing a new ‘Drug Strategy Board’ which will be more transparent in its performance for
supporting action discharged by the local authorities in delivering best possible outcomes (Disch
2016). To foster the enhanced and improved accountability and governance, the Care Quality

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Commission shall play a significant role in delivering substance misuse services and providing
trainings to inspectors and commissioners to assist the offenders in rehabilitating.
Conclusion
To conclude, a partnership-based and coordinated approach is pertinent to ensure a
decline in the consumption of drugs and extend support to the offenders and drug users to a live a
productive and crime-free life. The governmental strategies and policies sets out the measures to
be undertaken at every level through this partnership-based and collaborative approach, as it is
essential to tackle the drug related issues from every aspect. Therefore, the government as well
as the society collaboration is vital to achieve the common goal which is to reduce crimes, build
a healthier and fairer society, safeguard the vulnerable and most importantly, to enhance the
living standards of the individuals.

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Reference List
Alcohol and Drugs Education and Prevention Information Service (ADEPSIS)
Bean, P., 2014. Drugs and crime. Routledge.
Coy, M., 2017. Prostitution in (and out of) policy on violence against women and girls in the
UK. Journal of Gender-Based Violence, 1(1), pp.117-126.
Dikic, N., Djurdjevic, N. and McNamee, M.J., 2017. Doping. Encyclopedia of Global Bioethics,
pp.1-14.
Disch, L., 2016. Representation. In The Oxford Handbook of Feminist Theory.
European Drug Prevention Quality Standards (EDPQS)
Godlee, F. and Hurley, R., 2016. The war on drugs has failed: doctors should lead calls for drug
policy reform.
Health and Social Care Act 2012
Healthy Child Program
Homelessness Prevention Program
Misuse of Drugs Act 1971 (MDA)
National Security Strategy and Strategic Defense and Security Review 2015
Psychoactive Substances Act 2016
Tilley, N. and Sidebottom, A. eds., 2017. Handbook of crime prevention and community safety.
Taylor & Francis.
UK Anti-Doping’s Clean Sport University Accreditation Scheme
UK Drug Policy Commission (UKDPC)
UN Commission on Narcotic Drugs and the UN Office on Drugs and Crime