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Black people are stopped and searched for drugs at
6.3 times the rate of white people, according to a
new report from Release and the London School of
Economics and Political Science (LSE).
Asian people are also stopped at 2.5 times the rate
and those identifying as mixed race at twice the rate,
says
The numbers in black and white: ethnic disparities
in the policing and prosecution of drug offences in
England and Wales
.
Black people are also more than twice as likely to be
charged if any drugs are found, it says. In 2009/10, 78
per cent of black people caught in possession of cocaine
by the Metropolitan Police were charged and 22 per cent
given cautions, while among white people 56 per cent
were given cautions and just 44 per cent were charged.
Black people are also five times more likely to be
charged for possession of cannabis.
Members of the black community are also more than
four times more likely to be subject to court proceedings
and found guilty for possession offences, and five times
more likely to face immediate jail, states the document.
The Crown Prosecution Service brought more than
43,000 prosecutions for drug possession in 2010 – the
highest since the introduction of the 1971 Misuse of
Drugs Act – 60 per cent of which were for cannabis
offences, while 1.2m criminal records were issued for
drug possession offences between 1996 and 2011. More
than half of all stop and searches are for drugs,
compared to 10 per cent for offensive weapons and less
than 1 per cent for guns.
‘The policing and prosecution of drug offences is not
being equally applied to all those who use drugs,’ the
report concludes. ‘It is impossible for the state to police
the estimated 3m people who use drugs annually in the
UK. Instead, certain groups are the focus of enforcement,’
with the ‘deliberately inflicted pains of drug control’ falling
most heavily on ‘poor and visible minorities’.
‘This research shows that stop and search is not
about finding guns or knives but about the police going
out and actively looking for people who are in possession
of a small amount of drugs, mainly cannabis,’ said
Release executive director and co-author of the report,
Niamh Eastwood. ‘Black people are more likely to get a
criminal record than white people, are more likely to be
taken to court and are more likely to be fined or
imprisoned for drug offences because of the way in
which they are policed, rather than because they are
more likely to use drugs. Despite calls for police reform
of stop and search little has changed in the last three
decades – this is why the government needs to take
action and change the law.’
Release has called for drug possession offences to be
decriminalised in order to ‘eliminate a significant source
of discrimination with all its damaging consequences.’
Report at www.release.org.uk
See news focus, page 6
TALK IT OVER
A guide for parents on how to talk to
their children about club drugs has been
published by Adfam, the Angelus
Foundation and Chelsea and
Westminster Hospital’s club drugs clinic.
‘The involvement and support of parents
and families can make a big difference
to someone’s health and how they deal
with taking legal highs and club drugs,’
says
Talking to your children about legal
highs and club drugs: a parent’s
handbook
.
Available at
www.angelusfoundation.com
TB CAPITAL
London has the highest TB rates of any
western European capital, according to a
report from Public Health England (PHE).
Thirty-nine per cent of the 8,751 cases of
TB reported in the UK in 2012 were in
London, although UK rates have remained
‘relatively stable’ since 2005. More than
7 per cent of cases had ‘at least one
social risk factor’ such as problem drug
or alcohol use, imprisonment or a history
of homelessness, says
Tuberculosis in the
UK 2013
report. ‘TB remains a critical
public health problem, particularly in
parts of London and among people from
vulnerable communities,’ said PHE’s
medical director, Dr Paul Cosford.
Report
at www.gov.uk
STYAL-ISH SERVICE
A new drug and alcohol recovery service
has been launched by the Lifeline Project
at women’s prison HMP Styal in
Cheshire. The fully integrated programme
will operate in partnership with Delphi
Medical and Acorn Treatment and include
‘ambitious recovery outcomes relating to
health and wellbeing, employment and
self-esteem’.
YOUR VERY GOOD HEALTH
The World Health Organization (WHO) has
published a report on alcohol and health
in Europe, looking at consumption levels
and harm as well as the effectiveness of
recent policy developments. Meanwhile,
nearly 40 per cent of ten to 17-year-olds
who use social networking sites had seen
images of their friends drunk, according
to research from Drinkaware. ‘Children as
young as ten are seeing drunkenness
normalised,’ said Drinkaware’s marketing
and communications director Anne Foster.
Status report on alcohol and health in 35
European countries 2013 at
www.euro.who.int
4 |
drinkanddrugsnews
| September 2013
www.drinkanddrugsnews.com
News |
Round-up
NEWS IN BRIEF
Black people six times
more likely to be stopped
and searched for drugs
Deaths involving new psychoactive substances in England
and Wales have almost doubled in a year, from 29 in 2011
to 52 in 2012, according to the latest figures from the
Office for National Statistics (ONS).
There was also a large
increase in the number of death certificates mentioning
PMA or PMMA, from just one in 2011 to 20 the following
year, although the report states that ‘a small number of
these deaths also mentioned ecstasy’.
The number of deaths involving heroin or morphine ‘fell
slightly’ in 2012, to 579. However, deaths involving the
synthetic opioid tramadol – at 175 – were more than double
the number recorded four years previously. The overall
number of male drug misuse deaths fell by 9 per cent to
1,086, while female deaths fell by 1 per cent to 410.
Despite the continuing decline in heroin deaths, the
‘significant increases’ in deaths involving other drugs was
worrying, said DrugScope chief executive Martin Barnes.
‘The number of deaths involving PMA is, for example,
concerning. In all probability people would have believed
they were taking ecstasy, but PMA is far more toxic while
at the same time taking longer to take effect. This can
make users believe that the pill isn’t working, encouraging
them to increase the dose with sometimes fatal results.’
Meanwhile, the use of psychedelic drugs like LSD,
peyote and psilocybin mushrooms does not increase a
person’s risk of developing mental health problems,
according to a study of 130,000 people by researchers at
the Norwegian University of Science and Technology.
The study’s authors also claim ‘some significant
associations’ between use of psychedelic drugs and fewer
mental health problems. ‘After adjusting for other risk
factors, lifetime use of LSD, psilocybin, mescaline or peyote,
or past-year use of LSD was not associated with a higher
rate of mental health problems or receiving mental health
treatment,’ said co-author Pål-Ørjan Johansen, although the
document does not ‘exclude the possibility’ that use of
psychedelics might have a negative effect on mental health
for some individuals or groups.
Early speculation that psychedelics could lead to
mental health issues was based on ‘a small number of
case reports and did not take into account either the
widespread use of psychedelics or the not infrequent rate
of mental health problems in the general population’ said
co-author Teri Krebs.
Deaths related to drug poisoning in
England and Wales, 2012 at www.ons.gov.uk
Psychedelics and mental health: www.plosone.org
New psychoactive drug deaths double