Bearing down on recreational drug users distracts from the real problems

The policy of seeking out those using drugs and punishing them has been going on for decades, says Ian Hamilton. If it were in any way a success then drug use would be in decline

‘The home secretary wants to make an example of middle-class cocaine users’ (Getty Images/iStockphoto)

The prime minister and home secretary are incrementally releasing details of how they plan to bear down on “recreational drug users”. The belief is that those using drugs like cocaine are unaware or denying their part in fuelling drug-related violence. This is nothing more than a blatant attempt to grab headlines and doesn’t stand up to even the lightest touch of scrutiny.

Priti Patel and Boris Johnson are just two of many senior figures that deliberately mix up the way drugs are supplied and distributed in the UK. Undoubtedly, violence does exist in the drug trade but most of this happens before the drugs reach our shores. Any further violence and deliberate harm is almost exclusively associated with county lines dealing. These networks exploit young people by getting them to move drugs from urban areas out to more rural ones to maximise profits. Rarely do these networks supply and distribute recreational drugs like cocaine – they focus on heroin and crack cocaine, a completely different market and customer group.

Despite knowing this, the home secretary is leaking details of the various ways the Home Office plans to crack down on middle-class drug use. This ranges from naming and shaming business owners and “high profile” users through to raids during university freshers’ week at universities looking for students using cocaine.

You don’t need to look far to see how flawed this plan is, several government ministers, including the prime minister, have already been named and shamed about previous drug use. This didn’t appear to shame them in the least – quite the opposite, they played on the cool image they thought this would have with some voters.

The policy of seeking out those using drugs and punishing them has been going on for decades. If it were in any way a success then drug use would be in decline. But the opposite is happening, because drug use has increased overall. The police, who have to execute these policies, know how futile this type of activity is, and would prefer to be using their scarce resources and manpower targeting the gangs who organise the supply of drugs like cocaine. It seems this government's brief love affair with evidence and science is over. Just as with infections and pandemics, there is evidence available to ministers of how to reduce the harm associated with drugs. All of which points to the futility the planned Home Office activity will be.

But that’s not the point of this strategy. It isn’t meant to be effective. It’s just meant to grab attention and distract us from the real problems with drug use. After more than a decade in power, the Conservative government has presided over record numbers of drug deaths, and made savage cuts to specialist treatment for those that develop serious problems with drugs. We can’t even keep drugs out of our most secure venues, prisons. If prisons aren’t drug-free, it’s no surprise that evidence of drug use is widespread, including in parliament, with cocaine residue found in half the toilets tested.

Instead of picking on an amorphous group of “middle-class drug users” – whoever they are – perhaps ministers should look closer to home before preaching to everyone else. They could make a good start by ensuring MPs are drug tested before they vote in parliament, including a breathalyser test for their favourite drug, alcohol. Then again that would bring about a swift and abrupt halt to any parliamentary business. Best do as they say, not as they do.