Grim plight of those at the bottom of the food chain

Portsmouth’s key role in the county lines drugs menace is laid bare in a new report, revealing it as fourth in the top 10 destinations for London narcotics dealers. The report, commissioned by the Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, found thousands of young people, some as young as 12, being exploited by criminal masterminds growing rich from the procees of crack, heroin, and other illicit substances.

Portsmouth is said to have 98 active sellers, out of 413 in the county.

The figures involved in the county lines drug trade are eyewatering, and the misery caused incalculable,

Hampshire Constabulary last month joined an intensification week where county lines operations were targeted, making large seizures of class A drugs in Gosport and elsewhere in the county valued at £45,000.

Police say they fight a daily battle against a highly sophisticated organised crime operation.

And those 98 young people, some of whom may be schoolchildren, are well and truly at the bottom of the food chain.

Targeting these people for their crime is necessary, of course, but will it ever solve the bigger problem?

Portsmouth could learn from Sadiq Khan’s approach, which has been to try to extricate young people from the grip of the county lines machine.

His £3m Rescue and Response programme aims to identify the vulnerable young people being exploited for profit, and to offer them support and safeguarding back to the straight and narrow — in short, offering protection from a life of crime.

The police are doing a vital job in trying to demolish the mechanics of the county lines machine.

But, with echoes of human slavery, what the exploited young people on the bottom rungs need is help to fund a way out.

That would surely be a worthwhile investment.