The Conservative Drug Policy Reform Group congratulates Professor Dame Carol Black and the team of hardworking civil servants who have supported her in the production of part 2 of the Independent Review on Drugs, a thorough and convincing report calling for a more coordinated and better resourced cross-government approach to tackling drug addiction as a chronic health condition.
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In response to Dame Carol’s recommendation for a new central Drugs Unit, the Government has announced the creation of the Joint Combating Drugs Unit (JCDU), bringing together six key departments together as a dedicated team under the auspices of the Home Office. We strongly support initiatives to improve joined-up working on drugs policy, but we caution that the proposed unit may be too limited to address many of the broader longstanding issues of governance in this area.
Addiction and related harms are a key challenge for Governments and a major focus of any successful drug strategy, but these are not the only issues that need attention. We strongly support increased funding for treatment and social services for people struggling with addiction, but we note that these commitments alone will not address the huge gap between the evidence base on drug harms and the UK drug classification and scheduling systems, nor the overregulation holding back scientific and medical research and development with controlled drugs, the gaps in the regulatory framework for the emerging production and prescription of cannabis-based products for medicinal use, or the ongoing regulatory confusion surrounding CBD food and consumer goods.
Dame Carol recommends increased funding and expansion of services across multiple departments, particularly DHSC, and the majority of recommendations would be implemented by DHSC. There are no recommendations to increase policing to reduce demand, but there are for the greater use of diversion of offenders into treatment. The Home Office’s evaluation of the 2013 Drug Strategy found no evidence that law enforcement was cost-effective at reducing drug demand or related harms, and part 1 of Dame Carol’s report found that enforcement had little impact on drug markets other than increasing violence. In light of these findings, it is wholly inconsistent that the JCDU should be housed in the Home Office. Dame Carol makes it abundantly clear that, while multiple departments must play a role, drugs are primarily an issue of health and social care.
The remit of the review precluded an assessment of current drug laws or recommendations on changes to the law, effectively ruling out a wide range of alternative policy models to combat drug misuse from the offset. We strongly recommend that the Government now turns its attention to ways in which legal reform could improve outcomes in the UK, drawing on international examples, with Her Majesty’s Treasury, the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy and the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs to join the oversight team.
The CDPRG’s upcoming review of governance structures for drugs policy will explore successful past initiatives for the coordination of cross-cutting policy issues, including the role of departmental leadership, central coordination, and arms-length bodies. We commend the Government and Dame Carol for their commitment to improve drugs policy and we look forward to ongoing collaboration to create the most effective and durable governance model for the UK.
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Support is voiced from across the drug policy and research landscape for this embrace of a health-based response to the drugs crisis, notably including police personnel
Endorsing Dame Carol Black’s urgent recognition that addiction be recognised as a chronic health condition “like diabetes, hypertension or rheumatoid arthritis,” Mike Barton, former Chief Constable of the Durham Constabulary, recently retired after 39 years’ service, and a strategic advisor to the CDPRG, says:
“We do not treat cancer patients as the enemy and criminalise them, the very thought would be unspeakable, nor should we treat those who are addicted as criminals. It is most welcome to see Dame Carol Black's report speaking so clearly to approach this problem as a health issue. We will never arrest our way out of this problem. So let's unleash the concerted wisdom of the medical community to treat drugs addiction not imprison it.”
Psychiatrist Dr. Dan Poulter, former Under Secretary of State for Health Services, and also a member of the CDPRG’s Policy Council, wholeheartedly supports an integrated response to improving service provision, applauding its uptake by Government in response to the publication of the recommendations:
“For far too long drugs policy has been seen through the prism of the criminal justice system. The result has been record high numbers of opioid deaths. So, it is very welcome that this report is now recommending a health first approach to drugs which can only be good news for people who need to access care and support from addictions services.
“Integrated care in addictions is vital is we want to begin to reduce the number of people dying from opiate misuse and overdose, and it is welcome that this report sees an important role for integrated care pathways to improve the delivery of addictions services at a local level.”
An additional Policy Advisor to the CDPRG, DrugScience’s Prof. David Nutt praises the resolution to draw on evidence to inform drug policymaking that the Recommendations reflect, so as not to, in Dame Carol Black’s words, “continue paying the price” of maintaining drug treatment system which is not “fit for purpose”:
"Drug Science fully endorses harm reduction and patient centric approaches. In order to achieve this, we need to embrace evidence-based policies. If we are not relying on scientific evidence, how can we expect policies to reduce the relative harms of drugs?
By using the most modern and up-to-date harm and policy assessment procedures, particularly Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis, we are able to take a multifaceted approach to drug use and drug addiction. To uphold existing policies in the face of the evidence that others work better to reduce drug harms is to actively pursue the dire current policy outcomes as outlined by Dame Carol Black, needlessly and in full knowledge condemning thousands to evidentially preventable deaths."
An avid advocate for implementing evidence-based policy to mitigate the drugs crisis as he perceives it form the front lines, Jason Kew, Chief Inspector at Thames Valley Police and Violence Reduction Unit lead for Drugs, Exploitation & Harm Reduction, which is pioneering diversion schemes to reduce drug-harms and drug-related offences, applauds the recommendation to divert more offenders into treatment and recovery services, with the aim of improving recovery outcomes:
“It’s important to acknowledge the commitment of the review, putting their heart and soul into listening to the evidence throughout the drug sector, but none more so than carefully listening to those people with lived experience. It’s now time to lead, urgently act and deliver on the reviews priorities.
“Drug diversion is an exciting development within Policing which is quickly informing the evidence base. Drug diversion turns a previously incriminating encounter into a positive health outcome, without the need to arrest, interview or require admissions. Schemes like those in Durham, West Mids, Thames Valley and Avon & Somerset are in operation now. This is just one way, from one stakeholder which we are all part of which will help shape future drug policy enabling a whole system public health response.”
To arrange interviews with CDPRG Chairman Crispin Blunt and our collaborators who have shared their perspectives here, please contact Outreach Coordinator Ros Stone on [email protected].
Read the Review of drugs part two: prevention, treatment, and recovery.