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A service user talks to a member of staff at Swanswell, a charity that runs diversion drug classes in Newbury.
A service user talks to a member of staff at Swanswell, a charity that runs diversion drug classes in Newbury. Photograph: Martin Godwin/The Guardian
A service user talks to a member of staff at Swanswell, a charity that runs diversion drug classes in Newbury. Photograph: Martin Godwin/The Guardian

‘You can’t arrest your way out of record drug-related deaths,’ say police

This article is more than 4 years old

Police forces across the UK are offering drug users pre-arrest education and treatment instead of a caution or charge

In what is effectively de facto drug decriminalisation, people caught in possession of personal amounts of controlled substances in a number of police areas are being directed towards treatment and education services through “diversion schemes”, rather than facing prosecution.

The radical policies, often spearheaded by elected police and crime commissioners (PCCs), come amid a growing realisation that reoffending and drug-related harm can be reduced by adopting a public health approach and inviting people to address their own substance use.

At a “divert” meeting in Newbury, Berkshire, people speak candidly of their own drug use, appearing humbled and ashamed while retelling their experiences. “I got caught as a first-time offender when I was 18,” says one, without revealing which drug they were caught with. “If I hadn’t gone on this course my life would have been screwed because I’d have had a criminal record saying I’d done drugs.”

Another person says the diversion scheme is “a really important step forward” and should be adopted by the rest of the country, although he is clearly frustrated he is spending his evening in this way. “There’s no point criminalising people if, in my eyes, they haven’t done anything necessarily to hurt anyone else,” he says. “The only thing I do is weed, and that makes me a criminal.”

Just over 1,000 people in England and Wales were imprisoned in 2017 for possessing drugs, with around 22,000 others handed down non-custodial sentences. Despite recent decreases, drug offences overall make up the second largest proportion of recorded crimes, and a person found in possession of class A drugs, such as heroin or cocaine, will still almost certainly be taken into custody in most parts of the UK.

A combination of the prevalence of drug use (one in 11 16- to 59-year-olds used drugs last year), the example of pioneering approaches abroad – from decriminalisation of drug use in Portugal to consumption rooms in Denmark and Germany – and, crucially, the fact more people die from overdoses in the UK than anywhere else in Europe, has prompted police to take matters into their own hands. This is amid government intransigence and a staunch refusal to diverge from a law and order approach to drug use.

How drug offences are enforced is decided by local forces, led by Labour PCCs such as Ron Hogg in Durham and David Jamieson in the West Midlands, along with Plaid Cymru’s Arfon Jones in north Wales. All have overseen great changes in recent years as arrests have fallen dramatically.

Diversion schemes for possessing controlled drugs have been in place across Avon and Somerset and Durham for more than two years, while Thames Valley recently extended its limited pilot ahead of a likely wider rollout later this year that could take in Theresa May’s constituency, Maidenhead. Cleveland began its own pilot to divert people earlier this month, and north Wales will start in October.

‘We have to take a pragmatic approach, and custody is not the right place for vulnerable people at risk of harm,’ says Jason Kew of Thames Valley police. Photograph: David Bebber/Reuters

“This is about getting people to be honest about their drug use,” says chief inspector Jason Kew, of Thames Valley police, who is sitting in on the divert meeting. “We have to take a pragmatic approach, and custody is not the right place for vulnerable people at risk of harm. They need wraparound, holistic support. You can’t arrest your way out of record drug-related deaths.”

After the session, he tells me that creating non-judgmental gateways to drug services without stigmatising people and destroying their future opportunities is crucial to reducing harm. “Some people will see a health-based approach as going soft on drugs, but there is absolutely nothing soft about preventing death. Diversion is far more arduous than receiving an opportunity-ending caution or charge.”

Through a street-based pre-arrest scheme, Thames Valley police in Newbury offer people caught in possession of drugs the option of entering recovery and education services run by a charity, Swanswell. “I was told if I didn’t attend this I’d be prosecuted,” says a service user. “They said I had two options, either you go down the criminal route, or the divert route.” He agrees the choice was a “no-brainer”.

In the first three months of the pilot, police apprehended 35 people for possessing drugs, mainly cannabis. Of those, 34 undertook the diversion drug classes run by Swanswell and one was referred to a treatment centre because his problems were more severe. Drugs workers at Swanswell say that without the scheme the young people may never have sought help to address their use of drugs. They add that many of those who attended betrayed their ignorance over the harm cannabis can pose.

The recovery worker leading the session refers to the World Health Organization’s classification of addiction as a disease, dependence syndrome, due to the pathological changes wrought by drugs creating desires that can be immensely difficult to control. As the service users nod solemnly, they get back to identifying problematic behavioural patterns and discussing the psychology behind substance misuse.

“Substance use disorder is primarily a health issue,” the addiction specialist tells me afterwards. “There are significant negative consequences which arise when individuals find themselves embroiled within the criminal justice system as a result of their drug or alcohol misuse.

“This can create a self-reinforcing cycle of prosecution, imprisonment and release without any support to address the underlying issues. Employment prospects and housing can be negatively impacted, and problematic use remains unaddressed. Programmes such as this allow individuals to access harm reduction.”

Martin Powell, from Transform Drug Policy Foundation, a charity campaigning for effective legal regulation of drugs, explains that diversion schemes are proven to reduce rates of reoffending, with only 4% of those referred to Durham’s “checkpoint” scheme convicted in the following 18 months, as opposed to a 19% reoffending rate over 12 months previously.

“The criminal justice route doesn’t provide assessment or education – just stigma – and stigmatising people who use drugs drives those in need away from help,” he says, adding that it releases police to focus on other offences.

Amid cuts to police budgets putting unprecedented strain on forces, each non-arrest saves an average of 12 hours of police time – Durham is estimated to have saved £160,000 a year – and officers have reported that they are apprehending more dealers due to greater intelligence and more time available.

West Midlands previously piloted a scheme to divert drug offenders into recovery, aspects of which it incorporated into its operational policy. The force’s lenient approach to those caught with cannabis, pursued partly because it does not want to harm “life chances” by giving people a criminal record, was brought into focus on Saturday 6 April when the Daily Mail declared “Cannabis surrender” on its front page.

In a 2017 evaluation of its drug policy, a Home Office report said: “There is, in general, a lack of robust evidence as to whether capture and punishment serves as a deterrent for drug use.”

A Home Office spokesman says: “The police have a range of powers at their disposal to deal with drug-related offences in a way that is proportionate to the circumstances of the offender and the public interest.” He adds: “The government has no plans to decriminalise recreational drug use.”

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