Text warnings for drug users

Officers will message middle-class buyers from their dealers’ phones in fresh crackdown on crime

MIDDLE-CLASS drug users will get text message warnings from the police as part of a crackdown on crime to be unveiled today.

The new tactics will see detectives directly contact the phones of users whose numbers are found on drug dealers’ mobiles.

Additional powers will also be introduced to allow the authorities to seize passports and driving licences from middle-class users whose habits fuel the trade.

Writing in the Daily Mail today, Priti Patel warns that repeat offenders could even be placed on home curfews.

The Home Secretary says ministers are determined to curb demand from ‘recreational users’, such as students and middle-class professionals. ‘Their actions are directly leading to an increase in violent crime and people dying – but they pay no price. That will change,’ she writes.

‘We will bring down the harshest possible legal sanctions and consequences for these drug users. Including criminal sanctions, fines, curfews, compulsory drug awareness courses and the removal of their passports.’

The moves are part of a law and order package that will also involve:

■ £145million in funding to help the police smash the county lines drugs gangs bringing misery to towns and cities across the country.

■ Changes to allow all rape victims to give evidence by video link to drive up woeful prosecution rates.

■ Drug testing of those serving community service for drug offences, with the option of jail for those caught abusing banned substances.

■ Additional support for drug treatment centres to help wean addicts off their habits and rebuild their lives.

■ Publication of new crime ‘scorecards’ designed to identify weaknesses in tackling a string of offences, including rape and sexual assault.

■ A prisons white paper containing measures aimed at improving discipline and cutting the supply of drugs.

■ Expanded drug testing of people arrested for other offences to identify those who need help getting clean.

■ An advertising campaign on uni

‘Harshest possible legal sanctions’

versity campuses warning students that drugs could wreck their lives.

Boris Johnson yesterday said the Government’s ten-year drugs strategy would aim to turn the tide on the vile trade that is ‘killing kids’.

While much of the focus will be on shutting down another 2,000 county lines operations, the Prime Minister also issued a warning to ‘lifestyle’ users whose cash keeps the industry afloat.

‘These people think it’s a victimless crime. It isn’t,’ he told The Sun on Sunday. ‘We are going to look at new ways of penalising them. Things that will actually interfere with their lives. So we will look at taking away passports and driving licences.’

A Whitehall source said the text messages are designed to shock users. ‘Too many people think they are anonymous when they are buying drugs,’ they said. ‘The idea is to shock them into thinking again. When their phone goes from what they think is their dealer, they’ll instead find a message from the drugs squad.’

The Home Office said part of the £300million drugs package would be used to dismantle 2,000 county lines drugs operations, in which criminals exploit vulnerable youngsters to deliver drugs to towns and cities outside the main conurbations.

Also in the strategy, more resources will be made available to divert addicts into programmes designed to help them kick their habits. And Home Office sources yesterday played down claims that the new approach will lead to fewer users being sent to prison.

The overall cost of drugs crime is estimated at £20billion a year.