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advert-free site go to www.palad.org.uk
Alcohol:
The World Health Organisation's
report 'Cannabis: a health perspective and research
agenda':
"Alcohol intoxication is strongly associated
with aggressive and violent behaviour."
www.druglibrary.org/schaffer/hemp/general/who-comparison.htm
Advisory Council on the Misuse of
Drugs report 'Government Drugs Policy: Is it
Working?':
"...alcohol plays a part in .... about half of
the incidents of domestic violence. Moreover, in
about 40 percent of violent crimes committed in the
year 2000 the aggressor was under the influence of
alcohol."
www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200102/cmselect/cmhaff/318/31802.htm
Home Office:
"Alcohol misuse contributes significantly to
crime levels, through alcohol specific offences, for
example being drunk and disorderly in public,
offences against the licensing laws such as selling
or serving alcohol to under-age drinkers, offences
committed under the influence of alcohol: it has been
estimated that 40% of violent crime 78% of assaults
and 88% of criminal damage cases are committed while
the offender is under the influence of alcohol.
Alcohol is often consumed by offenders and victims
prior to the offence being committed, and it is
inextricably linked to disorder around licensed
premises. In addition, fear of alcohol related
violence or intimidation may well mean that large
numbers of people avoid city centres on weekend
evenings. Against this background, over 70% of the
local crime audits conducted by crime and disorder
partnerships identified alcohol as an issue: over 40%
of the audit documents highlighted drunkenness as an
issue, and 60% related public order problems to
alcohol."
www.homeoffice.gov.uk/pcrg/aap0700.htm
"…between 60% and 70% of men who assault
their partners do so under the influence of
drink."
"Criminal activity linked with alcohol abuse
costs the taxpayer another £68m, while 41% of
violent crimes, including assaults and muggings, are
committed by somebody who has been drinking."
http://society.guardian.co.uk/drugsandalcohol/story/0,8150,410967,00.html
"The Prime Minister Tony Blair has asked the
Strategy Unit to carry out a project looking at how
to tackle the problems associated with alcohol
misuse."
www.number-10.gov.uk/output/Page5659.asp
Tobacco:
Government reply to the report
'Tobacco Industry and Health Risks of Smoking':
"Hundreds of people die every year in the UK as
a result of high levels of exposure to passive
smoke".
www.doh.gov.uk/pdfs/cm_4905.pdf
NHS Health Development Agency:
"The report [World Health Organization European
Partnership Project to Reduce Tobacco Dependence]
estimates that 17,000 children under five enter
hospital each year as a result of passive smoking
which is also associated with asthma, glue ear and
cot death".
www.hda-online.org.uk/hdt/0701/report2.html
BBC News:
"One in eight shops is continuing to sell
cigarettes illegally to children who are under the
age of 16".
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/2208087.stm
HM Customs and Excise:
"With an estimated £2.5 billion in revenue
being drained from the public purse each year by
tobacco smugglers alone and a further £215 million
lost through alcohol smuggling, the problem of excise
fraud is a real one."
www.hmce.gov.uk/protect/ourfight/alcohol.htm
World Health
Organization:
"Illicit trade in tobacco products contributes
to the global death and disease burden caused by
tobacco consumption, said the World Health
Organization during an international conference on
illicit tobacco trade being held at the United
Nations in New York".
www.who.int/mediacentre/releases/who62/en/
Cannabis:
The World Health Organisation's
report 'Cannabis: a health perspective and research
agenda'
"There is little to suggest that causal
relationship of cannabis use to aggression or
violence."
www.druglibrary.org/schaffer/hemp/general/who-comparison.htm
Advisory Council on the Misuse of
Drugs report 'The classification of cannabis under
the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971':
"4.3.6 Cannabis differs from alcohol, however,
in one major respect: it seems not to increase
risk-taking behaviour. Cannabis intoxication tends to
produce relaxation and social withdrawal rather than
the aggressive and disinhibited behaviour commonly
found under the influence of alcohol. This means that
cannabis rarely contributes to violence either to
others or to oneself, whereas alcohol use is a major
factor in deliberate self-harm, domestic accidents
and violence."
"4.7.1 Cannabis appears not to make as major a
contribution to road traffic or other accidents as
alcohol. ... cannabis use does not commonly produce
the mental states leading to violence to
others".
www.doh.gov.uk/drugs/acmd/cannabisreportmar02.pdf
Illegal drugs:
Advisory Council on the Misuse of
Drugs report 'Government Drugs Policy: Is it
Working?':
"35. The relation between drug use and
crime is a subject of much debate. To quote Mr
Hellawell once again, "all drug takers do not
commit crime". However, there seem to be three
relevant types of crime which are associated with
drugs: organised crime involved with the supply of
illicit drugs, acquisitive crime committed by some
drug users to fund a habit, and violent crime
committed by disinhibited stimulant users.
36. On some estimates, one third of all property
crime in the UK is judged to be drug related.
Preliminary data from the Home Office
"demonstrate much higher reported levels of
acquisitive offending among users of heroin and
cocaine/crack than among those arrestees who use
other types of drug, or who do not use drugs at
all".
These addicts each spend around £16,500 on their
drugs a year, of which an average of £13,000 is the
proceeds of crime.
37. It is also self-evident that the estimated £6.6
billion spent on drugs by users each year represents
a lucrative source of revenue to the
suppliers—mostly organised crime—and it
would be surprising if this did not generate
considerable violence amongst drug dealers seeking to
extend or protect their territory.
38. We believe that drugs policy should primarily
be addressed to dealing with the 250,000 problematic
drug users rather than towards the large numbers
whose drug use poses no serious threat either to
their own well-being or to that of others.
www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200102/cmselect/cmhaff/318/31802.htm
