Researchers evaluated drug treatment programmes in England. Drug treatment was effective in reducing the harmful behaviours associated with problem drug use. Treatment needed to be sufficiently flexible to meet the differing needs of treatment seekers. Referrals through the criminal justice system had outcomes that were just as positive as those through other routes. Drug treatment was found to be cost-effective.
Source: Michael Donmall, Andrew Jones, Linda Davies and Matthew Barnard, Summary of Key Findings from the Drug Treatment Outcomes Research Study (DTORS), Research Report 23, Home Office | Andrew Jones et al., The Drug Treatment Outcomes Research Study (DTORS): Final Outcomes Report, Research Report 24, Home Office | Linda Davies, Andrew Jones, Georgios Vamvakas, Richard Dubourg and Michael Donmall, The Drug Treatment Outcomes Research study (DTORS): Cost-Effectiveness Analysis, Research Report 25, Home Office | Matt Barnard, Stephen Webster and William O'Connor, The Drug Treatment Outcomes Research Study (DTORS): Qualitative Study, Research Report 26, Home Office
Links: Report (23) | Report (24) | Report (25) | Report (26)
Date: 2009-Dec
Two linked research reviews examined how young people acquire their knowledge, attitudes, expectations, and intentions about alcohol; and what interventions worked best to prevent excessive use of alcohol.
Source: Richard Velleman, Alcohol Prevention Programmes, Joseph Rowntree Foundation | Richard Velleman, Influences on How Children and Young People Learn About and Behave Towards Alcohol, Joseph Rowntree Foundation (01904 629241)
Links: Report (1) | Report (2) | Findings
Date: 2009-Nov
The Scottish Government published a Bill designed to help reduce the cost of alcohol misuse to Scotland's public services and economy. The Bill's key proposals included: a minimum price per unit of alcohol; a ban on irresponsible off-sales promotions; a duty on licensing boards to consider raising the off-sales purchase age to 21 where appropriate; and a power to introduce a 'social responsibility fee' on some retailers to offset the costs of dealing with drink problems.
Source: Alcohol etc. (Scotland) Bill, Scottish Government, available from Blackwell's Bookshop (0131 622 8283)
Links: Text of Bill | Explanatory notes | Policy memorandum | SG press release | BBC report | Scotsman report
Date: 2009-Nov
A report proposed specific models of regulation for each main type and preparation of prohibited drug, coupled with the principles and rationale for doing so. It said that moving to the legal regulation of drugs was not an unthinkable, politically impossible step in the dark – it was a 'sensible, pragmatic' approach to control drug production, supply, and use.
Source: After the War on Drugs: Blueprint for regulation, Transform Drug Policy Foundation (0117 941 5810)
Date: 2009-Nov
A report said that there had been a 'dramatic' fall in heroin use among young adults in England, heralding a 'generational shift' in patterns of drug dependence. The number of young adults presenting as heroin and crack addicts fell by almost one-third over the four years to 2008-09.
Source: Annual Report 2008-09, National Treatment Agency for Substance Misuse (020 7972 2214)
Links: Annual Report | Turning Point press release | DrugScope press release | EATA press release | BBC report
Date: 2009-Oct
A report said that the police frequently abused their powers to confiscate alcohol being consumed in public places.
Source: Josie Appleton, Robbed by the Police: Alcohol confiscation and the hyperregulation of public space, Manifesto Club (josie.appleton@manifestoclub.com)
Links: Report | Alcohol Policy UK press release
Date: 2009-Aug
The government said that no local council had applied to establish an 'alcohol disorder zone' during the first year of operation of the scheme. (Alcohol disorder zones are designated areas in which pubs and off-licences would be asked to meet policing and emergency service costs.)
Source: House of Commons Hansard, Written Ministerial Statement 21 July 2009, column 128WS, TSO (0870 600 5522)
Links: Hansard | Alcohol Policy UK press release | Guardian report | Telegraph report | BBC report
Date: 2009-Jul
A survey monitored smoking, drinking, and drug use among secondary school pupils aged 11-15 in England in 2008. The prevalence of drug use had declined since 2001. In 2008, 22 per cent of pupils said they had used drugs at some time, 15 per cent had taken drugs in the previous year, and 8 per cent had taken drugs in the previous month. In 2001, the corresponding proportions had been 29 per cent, 20 per cent, and 12 per cent.
Source: Elizabeth Fuller (ed.), Smoking, Drinking and Drug Use Among Young People in England 2008, Department of Health (08701 555455)
Links: Report | Summary | DrugScope press release | Drug Education Forum press release | NatCen press release | Pulse report
>Date: 2009-Jul
A new book examined the social characteristics of those who used illicit drugs, the broader lifestyle context in which they did so, and the way that drug use fitted into the life-course. Although there were various ways in which the rise of illicit drug use had been linked to broader processes of social change, there were also important areas of continuity.
Source: Michael Shiner, Drug Use and Social Change: The distortion of history, Palgrave Macmillan (01256 329242)
Links: Summary
Date: 2009-Jul
A survey of people in England and Wales aged 16-59 found that around 1 in 3 (36.8 per cent) had used illicit drugs at some time, 1 in 10 (10.1 per cent) had used drugs in the previous year, and around 1 in 20 (5.9 per cent) had done so in the previous month.
Source: Jacqueline Hoare, Drug Misuse Declared: Findings from the 2008/09 British Crime Survey, Statistical Bulletin 12/09, Home Office (020 7273 2084)
Links: Bulletin | DrugScope press release | Conservative Party press release | Guardian report
Date: 2009-Jul
The government responded to a report by a committee of MPs on the Licensing Act 2003 (which introduced flexible opening hours for premises licensed to sell alcohol). It welcomed the committee's view that the Act had broadly been a success.
Source: Government Response to the House of Commons Culture, Media and Sport Committee Report on the Licensing Act 2003, Cm 7684, Department for Culture, Media and Sport, TSO (0870 600 5522)
Links: Response | MPs report
Date: 2009-Jul
A report said that although drug laws, reinforced by enforcement measures, appeared to have contained the illicit drug market to some degree, 'more' enforcement generally did not lead to 'less' availability because established drug markets were too resilient and adaptable. It called for a harm-focused approach, concentrated on deterring particularly harmful practices by making them too risky (with little extra gain) compared to other, less harmful, practices.
Source: Refocusing Drug-Related Law Enforcement to Address Harms, UK Drug Policy Commission (web publication only)
Links: Report | UKDPC press release | ACPO press release | BBC report | FT report | Telegraph report
Date: 2009-Jul
The National Offender Management Service published its strategy for dealing with drug misuse and drug-related crime for the period 2008-2011.
Source: The National Offender Management Service Drug Strategy 2008-2011, National Offender Management Service/Ministry of Justice (020 7210 8500)
Links: Strategy | Action plan | Hansard
Date: 2009-Jun
A think-tank report said that the United Kingdom had one of the most liberal drugs policies in Europe, combined with one of the worst enforcement and drug-use records. A 'harm-reduction approach' had failed, instead leaving 147,000 people in 'state-sponsored' addiction.
Source: Kathy Gyngell, The Phoney War on Drugs, Centre for Policy Studies (020 7222 4488)
Links: Report | BBC report | Telegraph report
Date: 2009-May
A report examined progress in the year since the launch (in February 2008) of the government's new drug strategy. It focused on the key issues of: enforcing the law and protecting communities; preventing harm to young people and families; improving drug treatment; helping people to reintegrate into society; and communications and community engagement.
Source: The 2008 Drug Strategy: One Year On, Home Office (0870 000 1585)
Links: Report | Home Office press release
Date: 2009-Apr
A report said that despite the billions spent each year on proactive and reactive drug law enforcement, the 'punitive prohibitionist' approach had consistently delivered the opposite of its stated goals.
Source: A Comparison of the Cost-effectiveness of the Prohibition and Regulation of Drugs, Transform Drug Policy Foundation (0117 941 5810)
Links: Report | Transform press release | FT report
Date: 2009-Apr
An official advisory body began consultation on sentencing for the most commonly committed drug offences. There was no evidence to show that lengthy sentences had the desired deterrent effect, and research suggested that drug 'barons' were more concerned about the loss of their assets than the threat of imprisonment. A more extensive use of confiscation orders was therefore proposed.
Source: Sentencing for Drug Offences: Consultation Paper, Sentencing Guidelines Council (020 7411 5551)
Links: Consultation document | SGC press release | Telegraph report
Date: 2009-Apr
An article said that youth work approaches that responded to adolescent drug and alcohol use were not working. It called for a shift in policy and practice to embrace 'detached', street-based youth work as a method to reduce the harm and marginalization that drug and alcohol use continued to cause.
Source: Adam Fletcher and Chris Bonell, 'Detaching youth work to reduce drug and alcohol-related harm', Public Policy Research, Volume 15 Issue 4
Links: Abstract | LSHTM press release
Date: 2009-Feb
A report (by an official advisory body) said that the law relating to criminal liability when an alleged offender was intoxicated was 'unclear and difficult to apply'. It set out recommendations for change, designed to make the law more comprehensible, logical, and consistent.
Source: Intoxication and Criminal Liability, LC Paper 314, Cm 7526, Law Commission, TSO (0870 600 5522)
Links: Report | Summary | Law Commission press release
Date: 2009-Jan