Drug dealers face assets seizure

2008-02-27T01:26:00.000-08:00

Some critics say the measures are unworkable

Suspected drug dealers' assets could be seized on arrest, rather than charge, under ministers' new drugs strategy.

Home Secretary Jacqui Smith says it would stop assets being "salted" away - and said suspects who were "completely innocent" would get their assets back.

The Conservatives and civil liberties group questioned the legality of confiscating goods before convictions.

Ms Smith also said drug addicts would lose benefits unless they attended a meeting with a "treatment adviser".

Ahead of the launch, she told BBC Radio 4's Today she wanted to see how the benefits system could be used "to help people to go all the way through effective treatment".

She said there would be a "basic expectation that if drugs are stopping you getting into work you need to come along and actually have an interview with a treatment provider so we can at least get you into treatment, on the path to getting drug free and back to work".

It is part of a package of measures in a 10-year drugs strategy Ms Smith said was intended to get people off drugs and cut drugs-related crime.

Other proposals include:

Grandparents will be encouraged to look after children whose parents are addicts

Social workers will intervene earlier when children are growing up around problem users

Schools will be rated by Ofsted inspectors on the effectiveness of anti-drugs lessons

New deals will be sought with foreign governments to reduce trafficking

Women and ethnic minorities will have better access to drug treatment

Critics have said the plans are meaningless without more money to support families affected by drug addiction.

Deborah Cameron, of drugs charity Addaction, said: "We know of 10,000 children, just through Addaction, who are living with Class A drug users.

"There has got to be properly funded family support services."

Under the government's plans, national targets will still be based on numbers signed up for treatment and retention on the scheme for 12 weeks rather than the effectiveness of treatment.

Click here for a table of drug use estimates

Currently only 3% left the scheme free of all illegal drugs, prompting a debate as to whether more emphasis should be placed on getting problem users off drugs.

A Home Office spokesman said: "We now know that we can succeed in tackling drugs - because the last 10 years have seen progress and some notable successes.

"The percentage of people who use drugs has fallen since 1998, and is at an 11-year low.

"Because we have invested in drug treatment, we are getting people into treatment quicker than ever before - with people waiting on average less than two-and-a-half weeks for treatment, rather than nine weeks in 2001."

Previous efforts to confiscate the assets of drug dealers and other criminals have met with mixed results.

The Assets Recovery Agency, set up in 2002, was criticised by the Commons public accounts committee last year for being "ill planned" and "unrealistic" after it spent £65m over four years to recover just £23m.

It is thought the new strategy will widen what can be seized and scrap the 12-year limit within which recovery proceedings must be taken.

The government aims to recover £250m a year from criminals by 2010.

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Drug dealers face assets seizure