Plan to offer heroin to hardened addicts in bid to ease crime

THE West Midlands Police Commissioner wants to provide heroin to hardened addicts in a bid to stop them carrying out burglaries, robberies and car thefts in the city.

The bold move would see convicted addicts who have failed other treatments and punishments given heroin in a controlled medical setting to ‘take the market away from organised criminals and stop people stealing to fund their addiction.’

It is a policy which has been tested abroad, including in Switzerland and the Netherlands, and is currently being developed in Glasgow.

Labour commissioner David Jamieson is turning to heroin assisted treatment, dubbed ‘fix rooms’ by critics, to tackle acquisitive and violent crime as half of all robberies, shoplifting, burglaries and theft in the region are committed by people feeding a drug habit.

He argues that existing methods of punishment and drug therapies have failed to deal with the crime problem. It is estimated that the cost of drugs cost public sector agencies including the courts, police and health services about £1.4 billion a year.

The plan is expected to be outlined in a new wide ranging drugs policy being issued by the commissioner today.

Mr Jamieson said: “Despite the good work being done by many, collectively our approach to drugs is failing.”

“We have a really serious problem in the West Midlands, most of the really bad criminality and gun discharges around drugs and gangs fighting for territory.

“If we are to cut crime and save lives there’s one thing we can all agree on; we need fresh ideas.

“These are bold, but practical proposals that will reduce crime, the cost to the public purse and the terrible harm caused by drugs.

“These proposals tackle the drugs market head on, hitting the organised criminals profiting from the misery of others.”

He said he hopes this policy will be making difference on the streets of the West Midlands by the time he leaves office in 2020.

The policy is expected to include further proposals to use the courts to seize more assets from gangsters or ‘big-time criminals who profit from the misery of others’ and ploughing the proceeds into the drug addiction treatment.

And look at offering on street testing at popular night spot areas like Broad Street and Southside so users can ensure their drugs are not contaminated or poisoned and avoid an expensive trip to accident and emergency. Police also believe they can use this information to monitor the extent of drugs on the streets.