This government started its drugs war by pouring cash into the criminal justice system. When the health lot started moaning, they were told to shut up. There would be extra money, earmarked in the Chancellor’s budget, to cover the years 2000 to 2004 for drug treatment. This year, 2000-2001, the first dump of money came down.

Now Drug Action Teams have been told that, in fact there won’t be that much of an increase next year. It will vary from area to area, but essentially it’ll be in the region of 30% to 50% in each district, not the 100% that Gordon Brown promised in his budget.

So, what has happened? Tony Blair is still blathering on about his ‘war on drugs’. The whole Government is boasting of the extra cash they’ve pumped into the NHS. But why has drug treatment money been slashed on the quiet, with not a word of explanation in the media? Could it be that New Labour only ever intended to lock drug users up? Have our drug war ‘warriors’ got tired before they’ve even started? Is the money going instead to the care of the elderly or something like that? Or, was the whole thing just another bit of spin? Whatever the reason, the consequences are that all the planning Drug Action Teams have been doing for the next couple of years is now up the pole. How can they plan services when they don’t know how much money they’re going to get? You really do wonder what this government is up to. Maybe they should get someone in from the private sector to run the Government. The Chief Executive of Enron, Marconi, or Railtrack. You know, someone with a proven track record of success at really fucking things up, instead of people who just piss everything about.