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.