15 February 2002
Bob Ainsworth, the Home Office drugs minister, told the Commons Home Affairs Select Committee that for each £1 spent on drug treatment, £3 of savings were made in criminal justice costs.
Home Secretary David Blunkett announced just before Christmas that the law would be used to target Class A users such as those on heroin. This followed a pilot scheme in south London last summer, which relaxed the rules on 'softer' drugs such as cannabis in order to target class A users.
A recent study by the University of York showed that the economic and social costs of drug use amounted to somewhere between £10.9bn and £18.8bn each year. The figure includes the cost of crime, social security and bringing drugs offenders to justice, as well as the bill to the NHS, between £3.7bn and £6.8bn.
Ainsworth said treatment spending by Whitehall would rise from £234m in the last financial year to £400m by 2003/04.
PFfeb2002
