Source: Sunday Times Contact: Pubdate: Sun, 30 Nov 1997 STRAW ORDERS DRUG TESTS FOR ALL OFFENDERS by Nicholas Rufford Home Affairs Editor ALL criminals face mandatory drug testing and treatment under powers to be announced by the government this week. Ministers believe the measures in the Crime and Disorder Bill will reverse the rise of drugrelated crime. Home Office research to be published in the new year has found that 70% of all those arrested by police tested positive, and 20% had been using heroin. In America, the comparable heroin figure is 6%. The findings, which experts described as "explosive" in their implications, indicate that Britain's drugrelated crime is among the highest in industrialised countries. Jack Straw, the home secretary, is alarmed at the findings, particularly at the link between heroin addiction and burglary, which suggest that drug users are responsible for most domestic breakins. The study was commissioned from the Institute of Criminology at Cambridge University, which tested suspects at police stations across Britain over 21 months. The results show that criminals steal to feed drug habits far more than previously acknowledged. Those testing positive in Cambridge and London were paying an average drug bill of £4,000 a year. In Manchester the figure was £7,000. In all cases the amount exceeded their legal earnings. Drugrelated crime is thought to cost £1 billion a year but some estimates put the figure higher. One in 10 of those arrested in some areas earn at least £25,000 a year from crime, according to the findings. Harry Fletcher, assistant general secretary of the National Association of Probation Officers, said at least half of all property crime was drugrelated. "It is costing billions in insurance claims and incarceration. The proposed testing strategy is very sensible, but the treatment is very expensive." The research was carried out in Cambridge, Manchester, London, Nottingham and Sunderland. Arrestees had their urine tested for evidence of illegal narcotics. The new drug treatment and testing orders will be made at a judge's discretion for at least six months and not longer than three years. Offenders will be tested regularly to see whether they have kicked the habit, and will undergo treatment. If they fail to comply, they will face an immediate custodial sentence. A Home Office source said: "These measures are aimed at firsttime offenders to toughen community sentences and to break the circle of drug addiction and crime." The bill is the government's first criminal justice bill. It also contains measures for extending supervision for violent offenders after prison.