Downers more popular than party pills since pandemic, say police

DRUGS gangs are increasingly selling “downers” instead of party pills, a trend that has emerged since the pandemic, a police chief has told MPS.

Suppressant drugs, referred to as “downers”, help create feelings of relaxation and tiredness rather than the high that people get from taking “uppers”, substances such as cocaine and ecstasy.

Downers include opiates, such as codeine and morphine, and Benzodiazepines, some of which are taken to relieve symptoms of mental ill-health and insomnia.

David Thorne, the assistant Chief Constable of South Wales Police, told MPS yesterday that his force was seeing an uptick in the amount of “downer” drugs being sold by county lines gangs.

He said: “We are seeing a greater use of drugs as downers, suppressants, as opposed to party drugs like cocaine and MDMA.” Discussing the ways the pandemic had impacted on drug use, he told the home affairs select committee: “Covid didn’t inhibit the [wholesale] supply [to dealers].”

He said the pandemic cheapened the street sale value of most drugs because dealers stockpiled during lockdown: “Not as much was able to be [sold] during that time so it was stockpiled.

“As a result, what we have seen is greater availability and a cut in price... I think another factor in this area of business is the dark web. People are able to order this stuff from their front room and they don’t have to step out of their houses to get it.”

During yesterday’s session, police chiefs from South Wales Police, Merseyside, and Thames Valley talked MPS through what their forces were doing to tackle drug abuse problems in their respective areas.

The MPS heard that a majority of Police and Crime Commissioners were against decriminalising cannabis, as in their view it would make crime worse.

David Sidwick, PCC for Dorset, said: “The last time there was a state-sanctioned drug it was called Thalidomide.”