From harm to hope

1 From harm to hope: a 10-year drugs plan to cut crime and save lives December 2021 From harm to hope: a 10-year drugs plan to cut crime and save lives 1 Contents Forewords 3 The Prime Minister 3 The Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, the Secretary of State for the Home Department and the Combating Drugs Minister 5 Executive summary 7 Chapter 1 Overview and approach 11 The challenge of illegal drug use 11 Our 10-year strategic approach 12 Putting evidence at the heart of this approach 15 Levelling up our neighbourhoods 15 Application across the United Kingdom 16 Chapter 2 Breaking drug supply chains 21 What is the problem?

2 21 How this strategy will change things for the better 22 Rolling up the county lines model 24 Restricting upstream flow 25 Securing the border 26 Targeting the middle market 27 Going after the money 28 Tackling the retail market 29 Prison security 29 Chapter 3 Delivering a world-class treatment and recovery system 31 What is the problem? 31 How this strategy will change things for the better 32 Increased accountability and transparency 33 Treatment 34 Recovery 37 Research 40 2 From harm to hope: a 10-year drugs plan to cut crime and save lives Improving the criminal justice system response 40 Chapter 4 Achieving a generational shift in the demand for drugs 45 What is the problem?

3 45 How this strategy will change things for the better 46 Building a world-leading evidence base 46 Reducing the demand for drugs among adults 47 Preventing the onset of drug use among children and young people 49 Chapter 5 Setting up for success: partnerships and accountability 53 What is the problem? 53 How this strategy will change things for the better? 53 Focused investment, targeted at the areas of greatest need 55 Improve partnership working 56 Developing a system of national and local outcomes, frameworks and accountability 57 Chapter 6 A 10-year journey 61 From harm to hope: a 10-year drugs plan to cut crime and save lives 3 Forewords The Prime Minister It s that much harder to level up a community while criminals are dragging it down.

4 After all, to thrive and succeed in life we need to feel safe on our streets and secure in our homes. And if we re going to make that the daily reality for most people in this country then we re going to have to do more to tackle illegal drugs. That s what this strategy is all about, a new approach to the problem that will reduce crime and improve people s lives. The financial cost of drug misuse is absolutely staggering. It currently costs society almost 20 billion a year, something like 350 for every man, woman and child in England. But the human toll is incalculably larger, measured not in pounds lost but in lives shattered.

5 The vulnerable victims of the vile county lines gangs, dragged into the world of organised crime from as young as seven. The innocent families whose homes are broken into by addicts seeking to feed their habits, and whose neighbourhoods are blighted by the criminals who supply them. The small business owner who endures repeated shoplifting and anti-social behaviour on their high street. The almost 3,000 people who lose their lives to illicit drugs each year, and the grieving loved ones they leave behind. It s clear that the old way of doing things isn t working. So this plan is different.

6 It s not a short-term fix but a long-term, 10-year strategy, one that treats drug abuse not just as a law enforcement issue but as a problem for all of society that all of government must deal with. There are more than 300,000 heroin and crack addicts in England who, between them, are responsible for nearly half of all burglaries, robberies and other acquisitive crime. These serial offenders should be properly punished for the crimes they commit, crimes which cause misery in communities across the country. But they should also be given the chance to get off drugs and turn their lives around.

7 Because if we can turn around the lives of addicts, the communities in which they live will experience lower crime, lower disorder and less violence. That is our goal. 4 From harm to hope: a 10-year drugs plan to cut crime and save lives We will also crack down on the supply chains that deliver misery to so many neighbourhoods. Children will receive a comprehensive education about the dangers of drugs. Interventions will happen earlier to stop young people getting dragged into a life of drugs and crime. And there will be no implicit tolerance of so-called recreational drug users.

8 We cannot allow the impression to be given that occasional drug use is acceptable. It isn t. So there will be new penalties for drug users. Because drugs cause crime and crime ruins innocent lives. If we re going to succeed in levelling up this country then we have to break the cycle of violence and abuse that blights so many communities, bring hope to those who have long since lost it and help rebuild the lives shattered by the illegal drug trade. With this strategy, that s exactly what this government will do. Rt Hon Boris Johnson, MP Prime Minister From harm to hope: a 10-year drugs plan to cut crime and save lives 5 The Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, the Secretary of State for the Home Department and the Combating Drugs Minister This ten-year plan, the most ambitious for a generation, sets out how this Government will combat illegal drug use reducing crime, saving lives, and challenging the very notion of recreational drug use , which fuels a violent and exploitative market.

9 This is the first ever Drugs Strategy that commits the whole of government and our public services to work together and share responsibility for creating a safer, healthier and more productive society. Illegal drug use is a complex issue that has evolved over many years, so we must harness all of our energy and expertise as we respond. The worrying trends of recent years, exposed by the excellent reviews led by Dame Carol Black, mean that failing to act is not an option. Drugs have a ruinous effect on our society, leaving a trail of misery in their wake. They drive half of all homicides and nearly 3,000 people tragically lost their lives through drug misuse deaths in England and Wales last year.

10 Not only that, the most deprived areas face the most drug-driven crime and health harms. Drugs destroy lives, they shatter families and they plague neighbourhoods around the country, fuelling violence and acquisitive crime. Enough is enough. We must turn the tide. This Government will reverse these problems within the next decade. We will make our neighbourhoods safer for decades to come through an uncompromising confrontation of the illegal drug market, reducing harm to individuals and communities, through treatment and recovery from addiction, and by reducing demand for drugs. We will make crime an unattractive option that doesn t pay.