Terms of Reference
Key facts
1 Introduction

Recommendations from the last Home Affairs Committee report on drugs policy
 Drug driving
 Increase in treatment places
 Treatment in prisons
 Prescribing diamorphine (heroin)
 Education and prevention
The aims of drugs policy

2 Global drugs policy
o History of international drugs control
o The unintended consequences of drugs policy
o Current international drugs policy
o The impact of globalisation on the drugs trade
o The balloon effect
o The environmental impact of drugs
o Links between drugs, organised crime and terrorism
o Human rights abuses

3 Education and prevention
o Current levels of drug usage
o Drug education in schools
o Government focus on prevention and education
o The Inter-Ministerial Group on Drugs

4 Treatment
o Current treatment options
 How do we determine the most effective methods of treating addicts?
 OST: Methadone and buprenorphine

Implementation of the Government's goal of recovery
o Health and Wellbeing Boards
o Payment by results
o Prescription drugs

5 The legislative framework and law enforcement relating to drugs
o Misuse of Drugs Act 1971
o Drug-related policing
o UK assistance abroad
o Money laundering

o The impact of austerity on drug-related policing
o Identifying drug-related crime
o Drug Intervention Programme
o Dedicated drug courts
o New psychoactive substances
o Use of the internet
o The effect of having a drugs conviction
o Cross-Departmental strategy

6 Drugs in prisons
o Drug use in prisons
o Availability of drugs in prisons
o Drugs addiction treatment in prisons
o Drug recovery wings and support on release
o Abstinence or maintenance?
o Breaking the cycle
o Lack of reliable data

7 Alternatives to Prohibition?
o Comparison with alcohol
o Decriminalisation and Legalisation
o Case study: Portugal
o The legalisation of cannabis in Washington State and Colorado
o Implications of discussing drugs policy - politics and the media.

Appendix 1: Recommendations from the 2002 Home Affairs Committee report on drug policy: Paper by the House of Commons Library
Annex 1: Some of the drugs available in the UK
Conclusions and recommendations