Daily Mail - 28.08.2019

Page 10 Daily Mail, Wednesday, August 28, 2019

BRITAIN was last night branded

the ‘drug capital of Europe’, with

one in three of the continent’s

overdose deaths happening here.
Experts warn the country is in the
midst of an addiction crisis as figures
show drug abuse kills more people in
the UK each year than knife crime and
road accidents combined.
Drug deaths are at their highest level
since records began, with cocaine-related
fatalities doubling in the past three years.
And official figures show that 34 per cent
of the 8,238 drug overdose deaths in the
EU in 2017 took place in the UK. Germany,
which was second, accounted for 13 per
cent – less than half the UK’s share.
Former Tory leader Iain Duncan Smith
demands today that the Government
take urgent action to prevent the crisis
from spiralling. A report backed by the
Conservative MP calls for investment in
residential rehabilitation centres –
funded in part by new taxes on alcohol
and gambling – and says the UK ‘must
conquer addiction to end its reign as the
drug capital of Europe’.
The Centre for Social Justice, which pro-
duced the report, said it should be easier

By John Stevens

Deputy Political Editor

‘A dereliction

of duty’

T

hE tragic, almost daily,

examples of knife crime in

the UK rightly concern and

dismay the British public.

Each headline of each stab-

bing speaks of forgotten commu-
nities, dysfunctional broken
homes and broken lives.
Stopping this is rightly now a prior-
ity. Yet tragic as these events are, it is
worth understanding that more than
ten times this number died silently,
without headlines, from drug misuse
over the past year.
The scale of the addiction problem
is deeply worrying. In 2018 we saw a
16 per cent increase in deaths through
drug misuse over a single year, and it
is believed there are almost half a mil-
lion known problem gamblers.
Small surprise that Public health
England’s estimate of the combined
annual cost to society of alcohol and
drug abuse, once adjusted for infla-

tion, is now conservatively put at

£38billion for the whole UK. To put

this in context, it is the size of the

defence budget.

Whether through gambling, drugs or

alcoholism, addiction courses through

society. The elderly have been exposed

to an increased risk of prescription

opioid addiction and too many of the

55,000 children defined as problem

gamblers are aged just 11 years old.

Worryingly, as the Centre for Social

COMMENTARY

by Iain

Duncan Smith

One out of every three

overdose deaths in the EU

now happens in the UK

TIME TO BREAK

THIS CYCLE

OF ADDICTION

Justice’s Road to Recovery report

shows, addiction entrenches disad-

vantage, deepening the woes of poorer

families disproportionately. It locks

people into a downward spiral – it is

responsible for mental health issues,

homelessness and domestic violence.

To continue to do nothing is to

accept we have lost sight of a home

Office promise to leave no one behind

on the road to recovery. It is time to

grasp this issue and we must see bold

and ambitious reform, from the devel-

opment of effective prevention strate-

gies in schools to the establishment of

universally accessible rehabilitation.

Breaking this cycle will come at a

cost. however, the CSJ calculates the

current failings place an enormous

cost on society. Public health Eng-

land estimates the UK could expect

to see savings of £21 for every £1 spent

on drug treatment and £26 for every

£1 spent on alcohol treatment.

The Government has shown an eager-

ness to review and redress our approach

to gang violence and knife crime. Yet

it’s surely time to deal with the root

causes by reducing the addiction that

feeds the gangs and criminal activity.

It is the report’s recommendation

that we create a strong central body

with a national strategy. This will

enable local decision makers to

deliver and hold them to account,

thus avoiding the deep disparity in

service delivery. This body must deal

with all addictions, including to alco-

hol and gambling.

Addiction now needs to be seen for

the real and significant problem it is

and we need to deal with it as a gov-

ernment priority, including better and

more targeted investment. Only then

will we bring this under control to the

benefit of us all. We must act now.

ling addiction would also ‘deal
with the root cause’ of gang
violence and knife crime.
The CSJ report accuses
ministers of failing to fulfil a
pledge made two years ago
that they would ensure addic-
tion services are ‘effectively
funded’ so that ‘no one should
be left behind’.
Freedom of information
requests by the think-tank,
set up by Mr Duncan Smith,
found that nearly one in five
local authorities have cut
addiction treatment budgets
by over a third, and that some
have slashed their budget by
more than half.
Around 30 residential reha-
bilitation centres have closed
their doors since 2014.
The cost of drug and alco-
hol addiction is estimated to
be £38billion – roughly 2 per
cent of GDP, the same as our
defence budget.
The report argues that

‘neglect’ of addiction services

has led to harm that will last

for more than a generation.

It calls for a new tax on

alcohol, the introduction of a

levy on gambling firms, and

an overhaul of ‘proceeds of

crime’ rules to pay for

improved addiction services,

including the re-opening of

residential rehabilitation

facilities. It also calls for a

new body, the Prevention and

Recovery Agency, to bring

together Whitehall depart-

ments to address the prob-

lems of alcohol, drug and

gambling addictions.

The agency would be

responsible for funding deci-

sions and ensure essential

services are being provided

across the country.

Andy Cook, chief executive

of the CSJ, said: ‘There has

been a clear and worrying

correlation between the

recent reductions in addic-

tion funding and the increase

in drug-related deaths.

Recovery is earned through

an enormous test of charac-

ter and emotional determina-

tion. We should be doing all

we can to support those going

through this process.

‘It is a dereliction of duty

that rehabilitation centres are

turning away those in need

due to a lack of funding.’

A Government spokesman

said local authorities had

been awarded £3billion to

spend on public health serv-

ices, and added: ‘Every drug-

related death is a tragedy.

‘We have commissioned a

major independent review of

drugs, which will look at a

wide range of issues, includ-

ing the system of support and

enforcement around drug

misuse, in order to inform our

thinking about what more

can be done to tackle harm

from drugs.’

Comment – Page 16

A TEENAGE girl died in the early

hours of Bank Holiday Monday

after a suspected drug over-

dose in a nightclub.

The 18-year-old, named

locally as Courtney Chamber-

lin, left, was pronounced dead

in hospital. She had been found

‘distressed’ in the bathroom

of The Warehouse in Leeds at

3am. Yesterday one tribute

left under a bunch of flowers

outside the nightclub read:

‘You were such a sweet, caring

young lady... it was a pleasure

to have met you and dance

away the night with you.’

A 19-year-old man was last

night arrested on suspicion of

supplying Class A drugs.

Teen’s nightclub tragedy

BRITAIN’S

DRUGS

DISGRACE

for those struggling with addiction to seek
help from their employer without fear of
losing their job.
Writing in the Daily Mail below, Mr Dun-
can Smith calls on ministers to make tack-
ling drug addiction a priority. he says tack-