Britain's Secret War On Drugs

The Drug Problem

Deaths from drugs misuse - England and Wales

· Heroin deaths have increased from 276 in 1994 to 632 in 1998 · Cocaine related deaths went up from 24 in 1994 to 65 in 1998, nearly trebling · A fifth of all deaths among men in their twenties are now blamed on drugs

The global drugs trade is bigger even than the Oil business. The amount of cocaine targeted at Europe has doubled in the last year.

In Britain, Tony Blair has committed the nation to new hard-drug reduction targets that include halving drug availability by 2008, prospects regarded as ambitious, aspirational and unattainable.

A report published by the Home Office in February 2000 shows that drug-related crime is on the increase. The graph below relates to offences in England and Wales only.

The average street price for heroin and cocaine has dropped dramatically in the last few years. These figures do not take inflation into account. If you took the latest price for cocaine per gram at today's prices then it would have cost £256 in 1989.