I wouldn't want to try to downplay the level of harm harm related to illicit drugs, but I am surprised that Tories at their party conference today voted against the motion "Alcohol does more harm than drugs". How were delegates persuaded otherwise? Not by the facts, apparently.
- Drug misuse gives rise to between £10 billion and £18 billion a year in social and economic costs (Updated Drug Strategy, 2002, p8 ) whereas alcohol-related harm costs around £20 billion per year (Alcohol Harm Reduction Strategy for England, 2004, p5)
- There are about 250,000 problematic drug users in the UK (Updated Drug Strategy p50) and 1.1 million alcohol dependent people in England (ANARP, 2005, p13) (with 7.1 million drinking at risky levels)
- In 1999 there were 1568 drug related deaths (Reducing Drug-related Deaths, 2004, p4) and an estimated 22,000 alcohol-related deaths each year (ANARP, p2)
- There are between 250.000 and 350.000 children of problem drug users in the UK (Home Office) and between 780,000 and 1.3 million children affected by parental alcohol misuse (Alcohol Strategy, p7)
More info
- BBC report on the debate
- Conservative Home blog, which suggests the result of the debate was not what conference planners anticipated
- Tory policy development on alcohol, which suggests the Social Justice Challenge policy team do understand the issues for alcohol (although the focus on addictions excludes the majority of alcohol problems)
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