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SMS warnings, passport seizure: Highlights of UK government's plan to check drug menace
With increased funding to arm the police with more tools to check the spread of drugs and catch the offenders, UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson issued a warning to ‘lifestyle’ users whose cash keeps the industry afloat.
The Boris Johnson government in the United Kingdom is set to unveil a set of tough measures today against tackling the drug menace in the country. UK home secretary Priti Patel has called drugs a “scourge on our society”.
The 10-year plan against drug crime will take on kingpins and dismantle 2,000 more “county line” supplies, Daily Mail reported.
With the implementation of the new law, the UK government will publish “crime scorecards” designed to identify weaknesses in tackling a string of offences.
Drug testing will be expanded and advertising campaigns placed in university campuses warning students that drugs harm lives.
With increased funding to arm the police with more tools to check the spread of drugs and catch the offenders, Prime Minister Johnson issued a warning to ‘lifestyle’ users whose cash keeps the industry afloat.
One of the surprising moves will be to send middle-class drug users text message warnings from the police. The new tactics will see detectives directly contact the phones of users whose numbers are found on dealers’ mobiles, Daily Mail reported.
Additional powers will also be introduced to allow authorities to seize passports and driving licenses of repeat offenders.
Home secretary Priti Patel, in an article in Daily Mail, said that such repeat offenders could also be placed under home curfew.
She said that almost 3,000 people died in England and Wales last year from drug misuse - more than knife crime and road accident fatalities combined.
“Drugs are a major driver of crime. Abusers steal to fuel their habit and the substances are a major factor in murder and other violent offences,” said Patel, adding that as home secretary, she will not stand by while such dehumanising exploitation and criminality takes places.
