Introduction

During the past two decades, it has become accepted wisdom across the political divide that the best way to solve the problem of crime is to tackle the problem of drug use, or more accurately, certain kinds of drug use (and drug users): those widely referred to as ‘problematic’. Problematic drug use equates mainly to the relatively small numbers of drug users who are current users of heroin and crack cocaine – the two illegal substances that are seen to be the most harmful (Nutt et al, 2007, 2010) and linked to criminality. Drug-related crime has come to be viewed as the prime scourge for the wellbeing of families and communities (Hunt and Stevens, 2004). In response, the criminal justice system has consolidated control over UK drug policy, which has entered, according to Stimson (2000), a ‘crime phase’. It was not always thus. As Hunt and Stevens (2004) note, the crime phase is a transition from the health phase of drug policy whereby drug harms were primarily a matter of individual and public health.

A central premise of the drug strategies developed by successive governments over recent years is that so-called problematic drug users (PDUs) are responsible for large amounts of criminal activity in society. The main thrust of policy developments has been that if drug users could be treated either voluntarily or through compulsion then crime rates would decline. This represents a line of continuity over recent years in national drug policy formulation. Alongside this there have, however, been a number of recognisable changes, which relate primarily to the methods and means proposed for tackling the problem of drug-related crime. This chapter charts development, looking at what this means for current drug policy. As this is so, it is organised in the following way. The first section takes a critical look at the drugs–crime link that underpins contemporary drug policy, focusing on the political background to its realisation and the policies developed thereon. Moving on, discussion turns to the early drug strategy of New Labour and its crime-driven, but treatment-led policy and its accompanying promotion of methadone maintenance treatment.