Is the drugs culture now too firmly entrenched?

Wanted -- Drug Czar

The post is expected to have a high profile whcih reflects the Government's determination to make the battle against drugs a high priority. The Drug Czar will have direct access to the Prime Minister and he or she will have the job of revising the startegy inherited from the last administration.

The former government's drugs policy enjoyed cross party support although there is no evidence that it has worked: the number of young people taking drugs still appears to be rising. About half of them have tried an illegal drug at soem time, although the number of regular users is much lower.

Will it work? Roger Howard Chief Executive of the Standing Conference on Drug Abuse in discussion with Kevin Thomas who works for a drug and alcohol self-help group on the Today programme

It is expected that the Government is looking for a senior police officer or a leading lawyer; but ministers are said to have an open mind -- civic qualities rather than detailed knowledge is what they are after.

Some groups who work closely with drugs-related problems fear that, by taking this high-profile hard line, the Government is signalling an all-out war on drugs. They point out that in the United States as elsewhere, that is a policy that has signally failed.

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Institute for the Study of Drug Dependence