Official reports put cost of crime, drugs and alcohol in three regions at £1.5bn a year

Crime, drugs and alcohol abuse cost taxpayers in just three regions £1.5billion a year, according to official reports.
Councils in Birmingham, Luton and Leicestershire have calculated the price of social breakdown in terms of police and court time, health services, welfare benefits and support for families. In one area, the cost of binge-drinking on hospitals and the criminal justice system was put at £713million a year, while addicts used up another £500m in public sector resources.
The figures have been uncovered by the Conservatives in pilot projects commissioned by the Government but not published centrally.
Caroline Spelman, Shadow Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, said: “It is no surprise that Labour ministers have tried to bury this bad news. “Across the country, local taxpayers are footing the bill for Labour’s broken society. The costs of social breakdown, alcohol abuse, poor schooling and drug addiction are just not confined to deprived areas – we all pay for it in our council tax bills and pay packets.
“There is no excuse for the secrecy of Labour ministers – they must come clean and publish all these reports in full.”
The 13 pilot studies were commissioned by the Department for Communities and Local Government a year ago in a £5m project known as Total Place. The idea was that public sector organisations in any given area could save money and improve services by improving co-operation and reducing duplication.
Earlier this month Liam Byrne, the Chief Secretary to the Treasury, told MPs that it was up to local authorities whether they wanted to publish their reports or not, and he declined to put copies of each study in the Commons library. But the Tories have found the results of three Total Place studies, covering Birmingham; Luton and Central Bedfordshire; and Leicestershire.
The Birmingham report found that gang-related murders and attempted murders are costing the city’s taxpayers at least £1.5m a year in police, court and prison costs. It puts the cost of the activities of “10 major dynastic gang families” at £187.5m over the past 40 years. Birmingham’s two main gangs, the Johnson Crew and the Burger Bar Boys, are each said to include three generations of five families. Their rivalry led to the fatal shooting of two teenage girls, Letisha Shakespeare and Charlene Ellis, at a New Year party in 2003.
In Luton and Central Bedfordshire, a hard core of 250 criminals is blamed for a quarter of all offences, costing taxpayers up to £112m a year.
The Birmingham report puts the cost of alcohol misuse - including public disorder, workplace sickness and health services – at £713m a year. Drug misuse is said to cost £500m in terms of treatment, mental health care, benefits payments and police time.
Leicestershire estimated that drinking costs the NHS, police, workplaces and social services £120m a year.

Source: Telegraph.co.uk 24th March 2010

Drug-misusing offenders: results from the 2008 cohort for England and Wales

At the national level, 20,934 Class A drug-misusing individuals in England and Wales were identified between 1 January 2008 and 31 March 2008 to form the national cohort.

?? During the 12 months following identification, individuals in the cohort were
convicted of a total of 54,462 proven offences. This equates to a baseline rate of
offending of 2.60 offences per individual.

?? Sixty-one per cent of the national cohort were convicted of at least one offence in the 12 months following identification. Twenty-five per cent were convicted of either one or two offences, while 16 per cent were convicted of more than five offences.

?? Comparing proven offending rates by different ways in which drug-misusing
offenders were initially identified reveals that those individuals identified as drug
misusers on release from prison and who also tested positive for Class A drugs on
arrest, had a rate of proven offending that was markedly higher than any other group of offenders in the cohort (5.59 proven offences per individual).

Source: Home Office ‘Drug Misusing Offenders Cohort 2008’ published March 2010

Heroin's Child: A shocking image of a lost innocence

A COMATOSE heroin addict sprawls in a school doorway with a needle by his side - as his toddler daughter cuddles him in a pitiful bid to stay warm. Just 10ft away, the man's six month-old baby daughter cries hysterically with no cover on her pram. The shocking pictures illustrate the grim reality behind damning statistics that show 120,000 children are living with addict parents.
Children's charities last night described the images as "appalling and frightening" And Justice Minister Kenny MacAskill said: "This shows the extent of the problem that drugs cause in our communities. When a wee toddler is discovered in circumstances like that, it is just so shocking.
"It really does highlight the tragedy and misery that drugs like heroin can bring." The father was found by a businessman alerted by the baby's crying. He said the toddler - dressed in pink tracksuit bottoms, pink and white trainers and a white T-shirt - was sound asleep but the baby looked distressed. The father's shirt sleeves were rolled up to reveal heavilytattooed arms. Around him lay the paraphernalia of drugs - discarded needles and a soup spoon for cooking heroin.
On the left of the picture, on the school step, a syringe and empty wrapper are clearly visible.
We are not naming the man because to do so would identify the vulnerable toddler and baby girl still in his care. But he remains the girls' legal guardian and lives with them and his wife in a house in Clackmannanshire. He is on a fast-track rehabilitation programme for heroin abusers and receives prescription methadone. The 39-year-old has a long history of drug abuse and was jailed for five years in 1994 for a serious sex assault. He claims the "drug works" were not his but admitted he had been drinking heavily with friends who were injecting heroin. On the day, he had appeared in court on another matter. He said: "I was told my dad was going to hospital and I wanted to take the children because my father loves them.
"I went to the Spar and got a half bottle and I also had a half bottle of vodka in the house which I had had a few out of. Me and the older child sat on the grass then I think I crashed out. I'm sorry for what has happened."
The businessman who took the photos on his mobile phone said: "He was gone. He had been that way so long that the girl was also asleep cuddled into him and the baby in the pram was crying her lungs out. He was dead to the world in broad daylight with two vulnerable children in his care. There is a busy road just a few steps away. It beggars belief that this idiot could still be responsible for these girls. The school where he was found is a notorious shooting-up location for addicts. There are new needles appearing there all the time."
Children's charity leaders described the case as "extreme" but said similar scenes were frequent behind closed doors across Scotland. Tom Roberts, head of public affairs at Children 1st, said: "It does paint a graphic picture of Scotland in 2007. "It is an appalling and frightening image. Services for addicts need to identify where children may live with someone misusing substances and ensure plans are put in place to protect them. We know with the right support, parents can overcome their addiction and maintain relationships with their children. However, we also know that support services are over-stretched and not always available when needed."
Last week chief medical officer Harry Burns revealed at least 120,000 children in Scotland live in homes blighted by drug and alcohol abuse. He warned: "Services are unable to prevent severe harm to many children. The Aberlour charity believes the real number of exposed children could be as high as 160,000. That is more than one in 10 children in Scotland, or three pupils in every class of 30. Aberlour said: "Parental substance use can affect children in many ways. The stigma can lead to isolation and susceptibility to bullying. Children may fear the family being split up by social services and may try to protect it by becoming withdrawn socially and conceal the harm they are experiencing."
Roberts said: "Many children in these situations assume a role as carer to their parents and siblings. Of the 2288 children on the child protection register in Scotland in March 2006, 45 per cent of these were categorised as having been neglected. We remain concerned that alcohol or drug misuse has pervaded Scottish culture and that this acts as a barrier to real change. Helping parents to stop misusing drugs or alcohol is the best solution for children, the best solution for communities and the best solution for individuals themselves."
It is not only the children left in the street as their parents lie comatose who are at risk. Children left in bedrooms as their parents lie unconscious through drink downstairs are in as much danger. But sometimes it can be hard to find help. A report by Children 1st stated: "People often have to wait weeks or even months to get the help that they need. This is especially regrettable given that pregnancy or parenthood can often be the trigger to encourage someone to end their drug or alcohol misuse." In the Central Scotland case, both girls are still at home with their father. This may appear to be a mistake by social services but they could also be at risk if put into public care. The report states: "The reality of our public care system is that it fails many of our young people, with outcomes such as low educational attainment, increased risk of drug use, mental illness, homelessness and offending, and a lack of identity and self-esteem. Before we can be confident of giving Scotland's most vulnerable children a safer, happier and more secure childhood, much more needs to be done to address the failings of our public care system."
Shown the pictures, Tory justice spokesman Bill Aitken said: "What an indictment of the society in which we live. These photographs are truly heart-rending." Labour justice spokeswoman Pauline McNeill said: "Sadly, there are cases like this and it will be shocking for people to read. We need more childcentred policies in government, we cannot tolerate this type of behaviour."
Clackmannanshire Council, who deal with the family, said: "Emergency duty social workers were involved in this case as soon as it came to light Social workers from Clackmannanshire Council's Child Care Service continue to be involved to ensure the future safety of the children."
This highlights the misery that heroin can bring It paints a graphic picture..an appalling and frightening image'
Source: Sunday Mail Nov. 25 2007

Six-year surge in drug possession cases as figure tops 34,400

The number of people caught with drugs has soared over the past six years.
Crimes of possession have increased by 58% since 1999-2000, and in 2005-06 a total of 34,440 such crimes were recorded in Scotland, according to figures released yesterday by the Justice Minister, Cathy Jamieson.
The Strathclyde region accounted for more than half of the total, while Dumfries and Galloway only recorded 663 incidents last year.
The figures came in an answer to a parliamentary question by SNP MSP Maureen Watt. She said they reflected a "serious and escalating" problem. "Such a rise has grave implications for the safety of our communities and the health and wellbeing of our nation," she said.
"These figures reflect a severe lack of positive action and policy initiatives on the part of the executive. In each year it has been in power it has allowed the situation to deteriorate and spiral out of control. The executive is fire-fighting all the time.
"What the SNP are saying is that we have got to address the root causes of drug misuse. By targeting deprivation with policies for economic growth, we will hopefully get people out of the cycle of deprivation."
The figures are not broken down by drug type, but they include heroin, cocaine, crack cocaine, ecstasy and cannabis. They show that the number of crimes of possession with intent to supply has risen by 15.7% in six years - from 8032 in 1999-2000 to 9293 in 2005-06.
Ms Watt added: "It is good that drug dealers are being caught but for every drug dealer that is caught, at least another one will take over that patch. It isn't dealing with the problem."
A Scottish Executive spokesman said that the rise in recorded crimes reflected work by police forces and the Scottish Drug Enforcement Agency (SDEA).
He said: "This reflects the efforts by police forces and the SDEA, which was established in June 2000 and been strengthened since then, to target those involved in peddling this evil trade.
"Their enforcement efforts have led to increases in the number of these crimes recorded, the number of people being charged and the numbers being brought to justice.
"It also reflects the success of initiatives such as the Drug Dealer's Don't Care campaign to support local communities in the fight against drugs and encourage them to provide anonymous information about dealers operating in their area to get them off our streets."
Source: The Herald Tuesday 27th March 2007

Drug legalisation is playing Russian roulette

Willem Buiter's proposal on these pages last week for the European Union (and the world) to legalise all drugs, including heroin and cocaine, is a one-way ticket to destroying millions of children, increasing violent crime and pushing up healthcare costs.
Like most legalisation buffs, Professor Buiter suggests a regulated system where access to drugs would be prohibited for minors. Our experience with laws restricting access by children and adolescents to tobacco and alcohol makes it clear that keeping legal drugs away from minors would be an impossible dream. Teen smoking and drinking are at epidemic levels in the US and across much of the European continent. In Great Britain, keeping bars open has led to an explosion of drunkenness among teens so widespread that the government is likely to return to limited hours for pubs.
Today, the US has some 60m regular smokers, up to 20m alcoholics and alcohol abusers and about 6m illegal drug addicts. Experts such as Columbia University's Herbert Kleber believe that, with legalisation, the number of cocaine addicts alone could leapfrog beyond the number of alcoholics. The experience of European nations that have tried various shades of legalisation bears him out.
Switzerland's "Needle Park", touted as a way to restrict a few hundred heroin users to a small area, turned into a grotesque tourist attraction of 20,000 heroin addicts and junkies. It had to be closed before it infected the entire city of Zurich.
In the Netherlands, anyone over the age of 17 can drop into a marijuana "coffee shop" and pick types of marijuana just as they might choose flavours of ice-cream. As crime and the availability of drugs rose, and complaints from angry residents about the decline in their quality of life multiplied, the Dutch parliament trimmed back the number of marijuana shops in Amsterdam and the amount that can be sold to an individual.
Under decriminalisation in Italy, possession of a few doses of drugs such as heroin has generally been exempt from criminal sanction. Today, Italy has about 200,000 addicts, the highest rate of heroin addiction in Europe. Most Aids cases in Italy are attributable to drug use. England's foray into allowing any doctor to prescribe heroin was curbed as heroin use increased. Professor Buiter would have legalisation occur across all of Europe so there are no countries that are enclaves of drug use. In other words, if you like what's happened in Switzerland, the Netherlands and Italy, you'll love legalisation across the European Union.
Easy availability of drugs will increase criminal activity. Most violent crimes, such as murders, assaults and rapes, occur when the perpetrator is high or drunk, and much of property crime involves people seeking money to buy drugs. In the US, half the beds in most hospitals are filled with people sick or injured as a result of drug use, drinking and smoking.
Professor Buiter promotes "our cigarette manufacturers, [as] well-positioned to enter this trade" of selling heroin, cocaine, marijuana, methamphetamine and designer drugs such as ecstasy. Talk about letting the fox loose in the chicken coop! For decades the nicotine pushers like RJ Reynolds, Brown and Williamson, and Philip Morris have been hawking their wares to kids. Twenty years ago the cigarette company Reynolds Tobacco (RJR) created a cartoon character called Joe Camel and so heavily promoted him that more children recognised him than Walt Disney's Mickey Mouse.
Only after years of complaints from public health advocates and parents, and the threat of legal action by the Federal Trade Commission, did RJR shut down its Joe Camel campaign. RJR tried to push candy-flavoured cigarettes that mask the harshness of natural tobacco for young first-time users.
Does the world want to create a Philip Morris for weed? An RJR for cocaine? Do we want cigarette companies that by their own admission seek "replacement smokers" for those who die or quit smoking, seeking "replacement drug addicts" for those who shake their habit?
There is no basis to assume that cigarette companies will take a different approach when selling drugs. After all, these are the guys who continue to promote a product that, when used as intended, kills and maims millions of people across the world.
Professor Buiter touts taxes on the sale of illegal drugs as a great source of revenue for public purposes. This blithely ignores the history of tenacious opposition to tax increases that has marked the tobacco and alcohol companies. As a result, taxes collected on the sale of these products cover only a small fraction of the costs in healthcare and criminal justice attributable to smoking and drinking.
Legalisation assures greater availability, and availability is the mother of use. That poses a clear and present danger to our children. Research at the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University has found that an individual who gets to the age of 21 without smoking, using drugs or abusing alcohol is virtually certain never to do so. Every drug-dealer, cigarette manufacturer and spirits company knows this - and acts on it. Viewed from this perspective, substance abuse and addiction are diseases typically acquired during childhood and adolescence.
Today most kids do not use illicit drugs, but all of them, particularly the poorest, are vulnerable to abuse and addiction. Russian roulette is not a game anyone should play. Legalising drugs is not only playing Russian roulette with children, it is slipping a couple of extra bullets into the chamber.
Joseph Califano
Source: www.FT.com Aug.16th 2007