03/07/2003

Effective drug rehab key to reducing crime, says Duncan Smith

The next Conservative government will plunge massive funding into drug rehabilitation services so that every young addict can obtain treatment, Tory leader Iain Duncan Smith has said today.

Launching a new crime policy initiative, Mr Duncan Smith pledged to raise the number of drug rehabilitation places from 2,000 to more than 20,000.

He also said that the Tories would recruit an extra 40,000 police personnel – a rise of 30%.

The Tory leader said that drug offences were up by 16% in a year, violent crime rose by 20%, and gun crime increasing by 35%, so revealing that "crime is infecting our nation - and hard drugs are making our condition worse".

At a press conference in Leeds today, Mr Duncan Smith said that the need was not only to contain the crises of crime and drugs, but defeat them.

He added: "The Conservative Party under my leadership is not going to stand by and watch as people's lives are ruined by crime and drugs. The next Conservative government will expand dramatically the number of hard drug rehabilitation places available to young people from under 2,000 to over 20,000. That means we'll have enough places in rehab for every young hard drug addict in Britain."

Shadow Home Secretary Oliver Letwin said that the cost of the move could top £460 million - which he said could be partly met by reducing the impact of drug treatment in the NHS.

He added: "Overall, crime costs Britain about £60 billion a year and a third of that is linked to cocaine, crack and heroin. We believe the fight against crime and the fight against drugs are one and the same and that they can only be won together. We have to defeat crime and that means defeating drugs."

(GMcG)

Related UK National News Stories
Click here for the latest headlines.

04 December 2003
Ecstasy in decline but drug use is 'stable'
Class A drug use overall has remained the same but ecstasy use has fallen by a fifth, according to Home Office figures published today. Figures for 2002/03 show that class A drug use among young people has been "broadly stable" since 1996 with recent falls in some individual drugs, such as ecstasy which has fallen for the first time.
15 November 2012
Factors Used To Measure Child Poverty To Expand
Factors used to measure child poverty could change to include family breakdown, drug addiction, debt and education results, ministers say. While recent figures showed fewer children in poverty, this was largely because falling wages have narrowed the gap between the poorest and average earners.
25 September 2015
Further Six Arrested In No Deal Operation In Birmingham
A further six people have been arrested as part of an ongoing operation targeting suspected drug dealers in Birmingham. Police carried out a series of dawn raids on Thursday 24 September, arresting a 17-year-old man, two 19-year-olds and three men aged 21, 26 and 47.
17 October 2003
54 arrested in swoop on suspected drug dealers
Sellers of the Big Issue were among 54 people arrested by Merseyside Police today in a crackdown on drug dealing in Liverpool city centre. Operation Manton targeted suspected drug dealers and drug users and 50 men and four women were arrested following a 15-month long investigation by Merseyside Police into drug dealing on the city's streets.
10 August 2010
Credit Rating Agencies To 'Root Out' Benefits Cheats
Prime Minister David Cameron has unveiled plans for credit ratings firms to be used to identify benefits fraudsters. Mr Cameron announced the plans, which are aimed at cutting fraudulent claim amounting to £1.5 billion a year, in a speech in Manchester.