EURAD Responds to UK Home Affairs Committee Inquiry on Drugs

The UK's Home Affairs Committee will undertake a comprehensive review of drugs policy throughout 2012.

What is the inquiry looking at? 

Specifically, the Committee will consider:

  • The extent to which the Government’s 2010 drug strategy is a ‘fiscally responsible policy with strategies grounded in science, health, security and human rights’ in line with the recent recommendation by the Global Commission on Drug Policy

  • The criteria used by the Government to measure the efficacy of its drug policies

  • The independence and quality of expert advice which is being given to the government

  • Whether drug-related policing and expenditure is likely to decrease in line with police budgets and what impact this may have

  • The cost effectiveness of different policies to reduce drug usageThe extent to which public health considerations should play a leading role in developing drugs policy

  • The relationship between drug and alcohol abuse

  • The comparative harm and cost of legal and illegal drugs

  • The impact of the transfer of functions of the National Treatment Agency for Substance Misuse to Public Health England and how this will affect the provision of treatment

  • The availability of ‘legal highs’ and the challenges associated with adapting the legal framework to deal with new substances

  • The links between drugs, organised crime and terrorism

  • Whether the UK is supporting its global partners effectively and what changes may occur with the introduction of the national crime agency

  • Whether detailed consideration ought to be given to alternative ways of tackling the drugs dilemma, as recommended by the Select Committee in 2002 (The Government's Drugs Policy: Is It Working?, HC 318, 2001–02) and the Justice Committee’s 2010 Report on justice reinvestment (Cutting crime: the case for justice reinvestment, HC 94, 2009–10).

What is EURAD's response?

EURAD has submitted information to the inquiry and will follow the UK review throughout 2012. Information submitted to this inquiry is now the property of the Home Affairs Committee, so cannot be replicated on our website.

EURAD has concerns over how the inquiries' public call for evidence explicitly named the Global Commisson on Drug's Report (see bullet point one above). EURAD believes that reports of this type should not be a driving force behind government reviews of drug policies. Rather, governments should be keen to regularly review their policies to ensure the actions they are taking are helping to reduce the prevalence of drug use.

More information about the inquiry can be found here.