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Drugs: Crime

Answer

[holding answer 6 March 2008]: The Government published on 27 February a new comprehensive 10 year Drug Strategy backed-up with a three year action plan. The strategy is focused on preventing the number of young people developing drug problems, targeting families at risk and intervening early through a whole family approach, protecting communities through robust enforcement by attacking drug supply at all levels and cutting drug-related crime and disorder.Key actions to tackle illegal drugs and the harms they cause include:"extending police powers to seize more dealers' cash and assets on arrest rather than conviction;""embedding action to tackle drugs within the Neighbourhood Policing approach, responding to community concerns about drugs, acting on intelligence provided by the community and giving feedback on how such intelligence was used;""identifying and targeting those drug misusing offenders causing the greatest harm to communities and improving the responses to divert them out of crime using more effective and integrated approaches;""helping families at risk and supporting parents with drug problems and ensuring prompt access to treatment for all drug misusing parents with a treatment need;""continuing to improve drug treatment with a focus on treatment outcomes and on more individuals overcoming drug dependence; and""using opportunities presented by the benefits system to provide support and create incentives to move towards treatment, training and employment."

Secondary information

Type

Written question

Reference

474 c434W;474 c432W; 191894

Session

2007-08

Subjects

Crime Drugs

Link

View this Written question on www.publications.parliament.uk