The crackdown forms part of the government’s new drugs strategy, which also includes an expansion of drug testing after arrest for other offences and a behaviour change campaign to be piloted in universities in the hope of turning young people away from narcotics.
Today’s launch of the strategy comes after evidence emerged that around 300,000 heroin and crack addicts in England are responsible between them for nearly half of all acquisitive crime – such as burglaries and muggings – while drugs are linked to almost half of homicides. The total cost to society of illegal drug use is estimated by the government to be nearly £20bn a year in England alone.
Mr Johnson said that the police county lines programme had already closed down 1,500 “lines” responsible for spreading drugs from the cities to every corner of the country, making more than 7,400 arrests and safeguarding more than 4,000 vulnerable adults and children. The new campaign will aim to dismantle a further 2,000 county line operations over the next three years.
This story is from the December 06, 2021 edition of The Independent.
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This story is from the December 06, 2021 edition of The Independent.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
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