The United Kingdom government is at the forefront of the battle to try to find new ways of combating the problem of drug abuse. A rise in the number of drug addicts, the re-emergence of hard drugs such as heroin, and increasing evidence that younger children are being targeted by dealers has forced the police, education authorities and other agencies to change their thinking.

Announcing an extra 200 million pounds sterling in funding to tackle drug abuse, Dr. Cunningham said it represented a major shift in the government's approach, backing up efforts to stop drugs entering the country and criminal sanctions against users and Too much money had been spent in the past on dealing with the results of drug addiction, rather than tackling the root cause of the problem, he said.

To reverse this trend, the extra funding will be used to finance treatment and testing services both wit In addition, health and local authorities will receive an extra 70 million pounds sterling to provide services for drug misusers - targeting youngsters as well as women and ethnic minorities who are felt to have been left out by traditional drug treatmen Figures produced by the Department of Health showed that for every one pound sterling spent on drug-misuse treatment, cost savings of more than three pounds sterling were made through reductions in crime and the cost of bringing someone to trial.

A further three million pounds sterling will be added to the money already spent on drugs education and prevention programs in schools and the community. Drug abuse is costing UK citizens and companies millions of pounds sterling a year in goods stolen b Around half of addicts' income is believed to come from crime and according to one health service survey, each addict commits an verage of 250 crimes a year.

On the latest estimates it means 50 million crimes are now being committed by them each year. The problem with the rise in addicts has been fueled by a significant increase in heroin use, a drug which was prevalent in the 1960s and '70s but was thought to have been replaced by softer recreational drugs such as ecstasy and cannabis. The number of heroin seizures carried out by UK police and customs officials rose by 41 percent in 1996, the last year for which figures were available.

This followed an 80 percent increase in seizures of the drug in 1995. Police believe that 95 percent of heroin reaching Western Europe originates from Afghanistan and 80 percent of heroin reaching the UK comes from or through Turkey. British customs officials seized a record 80 tons of drugs being smuggled into the country from abroad during 1996, a haul which would have a street value of more than 500,000,000 pounds sterling.

The government and law enforcement agencies in the UK have recognized that the problem is one of supply and demand; it is no good pouring millions into enforcement of the anti-drugs laws if nothing is done to try to stem the demand for them by persuading To coordinate a national strategy of prevention and enforcement the government appointed an anti-drugs coordinator, Keith Hellawell, in 1997.

It is prevention, not enforcement that is being given the priority and Hellawell published a 10-year strategy to One of his main recommendations was to provide all children aged five to 16 with specific education designed to dissuade them from experimenting with drugs. There is evidence that dealers are increasingly targeting young schoolchildren with cannabis and Speaking at the launch of Dr. Cunningham's initiative, Hellawell warned that a recent slump in national school examination results may be due to drug abuse by students.

We do know that young people take drugs, such as cannabis, which does affect peo The anti-drugs coordinator's strategy has four main aims: to help young people resist drug misuse in order to achieve their full potential in society; to protect communities from drug-related anti-social and criminal behavior; to enable people with drug In launching his strategy Hellawell rejected criticisms that his plan should have considered legalizing cannabis, a drug which pressure groups including one responsible national newspaper in Britain and even some police officers believe to be harmless.

He said that based on evidence by the World Health Organization and the experience of Alaska, where cannabis was decriminalized and then re-criminalized, he did not see any evidence for it to be legalized in the UK. Hellawell also rejected claims that the report should have recommended a zero tolerance' approach for cracking down on drug misuse. He said: We were realistic in our report.

It would be pie in the sky to say we will create a drug-free society. We w (Courtesy of LPS Weekly Newsletter)