On Monday, the government published its 10 year Drugs Strategy, which will strengthen police programmes tackling drug gangs; expand the powers available to law enforcement for drug testing; and bring in new methods to discourage drug use.

I welcome this crack down on drugs. There is, unfortunately, a tendency in some parts of society for whom taking so-called recreational drugs – particularly cocaine – has become both normalised, and totally removed from the horrific consequences to the community. Some drug users will even wax lyrical about their environmental credentials or social justice, while ignoring the intolerable devastation of drug crop cultivation on natural ecosystems, or the exploitative and violent impact on impoverished communities, both in the UK and overseas.

This needs to end, and the new measures announced by the government will help build on the work that has already seen over 1,500 drug lines closed since 2019, with an additional £300m of funding to combat county lines gangs. A White Paper next year will consider a series of escalating sanctions for those who take recreational drugs, such as curfews or the temporary removal of a passport or driving licence, and increased fines.

Sadly, over 300,000 people are addicted to heroin and crack cocaine in England, and addiction to these drugs is thought to be linked to around half of all theft, burglary and robbery.

So in addition to smashing drug routes, we must get help to those who need it to free themselves from the addictive grip of these terrible drugs. Within the Drugs Strategy is a plan to ensure that within a decade, we have a vastly improved treatment and recovery system in England, backed by an additional £780 million over three years. This will treat addiction as a chronic health condition, breaking down stigma, saving lives, and substantially breaking the cycle of crime that addiction can drive. 

This week the government also published its Prisons Strategy White Paper, with the aim of cutting reoffending rates. Our prisons keep our communities safe by keeping dangerous criminals off the street, but they only work properly if they reform and rehabilitate offenders before they are released.

So the White Paper sets out a plan for providing prisoners with rehabilitative drug treatment, delivering increased prisoner education, supporting prisoners into jobs as they leave custody, and implementing state of the art body scanners and airport-style security to reduce the flow of illicit contraband in prisons.

Working in tandem, these two strategies will help crack down on the scourge of drug crime and keep our communities safer. We have some excellent charities in south Shropshire doing great work to help rehabilitate offenders, often drugs users, whose experience can inform these new strategies.