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The government is preparing its biggest
assault on drugs with a £50 million plan to
take the antidrug message to children as
young as six and to segregate addicted
prisoners in Britain·s jails.
The strategy will be unveiled in the spring by
Keith Hellawell, the former chief constable of
West Yorkshire, who was appointed ´drug
tsarµ by Tony Blair last October.
One of Hellawell·s priorities is to target
children before they fall under the influence of
youth drug culture. Research by the Home
Office drug prevention unit has found that
young children given weekly classes in drug
dangers are far less likely to become drug
users in their teens.
Hellawell also wants to tackle hardened drug-
users, blamed for more than £1 billion of
property crime a year in Britain. Under the
government·s plans, expected to cost £7
million, every jail in England and Wales will
have a drug-free wing where prisoners will be
sent to wean them off drugs. Inmates will be
required to undergo regular testing in return
for concessions.
The new strategy will also call for £40
million funding for drug treatment and
 
testing schemes, which will coerce those who
steal to pay for drugs to undergo tests and
treatment. Those who fail to follow the
regime would face imprisonment.
Hellawell is expected to respond to ministers·
concerns over inconsistencies in the way the
police deal with cannabis possession. A report
by the Advisory Council on the Misuse of
Drugs, a statutory body found that some
police forces dealt punitively with offenders
whereas others gave warnings. Hellawell
favours caution for first-time offenders, but
insists this does not represents softening of
the government·s policy.
He will also recommend the streamlining of
the government·s £500 million-a-year effort
to fight drugs. The work of more than 100
local drug action teams and a dozen regional
drug prevention initiatives is expected to be
merged.
Other measures being considered include
tougher action by councils to evict tenants
convicted of drug-related crime and heavier
sentences for drug dealers. After five months·
consultation, Hellawell remains firmly
opposed to any legalization of drugs.
The Sunday Times, 8 March 1998
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