THE SIZE
OF THE
PROBLEM
9. At the outset it is important to keep a sense of proportion.
Legal drugs, such as tobacco and alcohol, are responsible for
far greater damage both to individual health and to the social
fabric in general than illegal ones. It should also be borne in
mind that not all drugs are equally harmful. While the inquiry
has not specifically considered the social problems caused by
alcohol or tobacco, our work has proceeded with these comparisons
in mind.
10. Substance misuse is a continuum perhaps artificially divided
into legal and illegal activity. Dr Colin Brewer, addiction psychiatrist
and Medical Director of The Stapleford Centre, was of the opinion
that:
"The big problem is that people are talking about drugs
and alcohol as though they were somehow different...It is only
in this century that the curious idea has grown up that it is
all right to intoxicate yourself with some drugs but not with
others".[5]
11. In Tackling Drugs to Build a Better Britain, Mr
Keith Hellawell wrote: "it is clear to me that legally obtainable
substances such as alcohol, tobacco, solvents and prescribed drugs
used without medical control have close links with illegal drugs
problems and should therefore be addressed, as appropriate, within
the strategy".[6]
The Welsh National Assembly has formulated a strategy which covers
the misuse of both illegal and legal drugs, and we believe that
there is merit in this approach.[7]
TOBACCO AND
ALCOHOL
12. In 1998, 27% of the population of adults aged 16 and over
smoked cigarettes in England and in 1995, over 120,000 deaths
were caused by smoking in the UK: 20% of all deaths.[8]
The Royal College of Physicians has described cigarette smoking
as "the single largest avoidable cause of premature death
and disability in Britain" and "the greatest challenge
and opportunity for all involved in improving the public health".[9]
13. In 1998, 75% of men and 59% of women had drunk alcohol
in the last week, and 37% of men and 20% of women had drunk over
the recommended amount in the last week.[10]
The toll on health of alcohol misuse is difficult to quantify
due to problems of how data is collected. The Department of Health's
Statistics on Alcohol: England, 1978 onwards, notes that,
depending on definitions, between 5,000 and 40,000 deaths a year
can be attributed to alcohol abuse.[11]
A report recently published by Alcohol Concern suggested that
one in four emergency hospital admissions of men is alcohol-related
and that alcohol plays a part in about half of serious road crashes
and about half of the incidents of domestic violence.[12]
Moreover, in about 40 percent of violent crimes committed in the
year 2000 the aggressor was under the influence of alcohol.[13]
1
Daily Telegraph, 9 July 2001. Back
2
Former UK Anti-Drugs Co-ordinator; former Deputy UK Anti Drugs
Co-ordinator; Tackling Drugs to Build a Better Britain: The
Government's Ten-Year Strategy for Tackling Drugs Misuse,
Cm 3945, Cabinet Office, April 1998 (hereafter "Tackling
Drugs to Build a Better Britain"). Back
3
Q. 703. Back
4
Q. 757. Back
5
Q. 565. Back
6
Tackling Drugs to Build a Better Britain, p. 6. Back
7
Tackling Substance Misuse in Wales: A Partnership Approach,
National Assembly for Wales, 2000. Back
8
ONS General Household Survey, 1978-1998, cited in ev.,
p. 201; ONS Statistical Bulletin, Statistics on Smoking: England,
1978 onwards, Department of Health, 2000, (hereafter "Statistics
on Smoking") p. 1. Back
9
Nicotine Addiction in Britain: A Report of the Tobacco Advisory
Group of the Royal College of Physicians, 2000, p.183, cited
in the Second Report of the Health Committee, Session 1999-2000,
on The Tobacco Industry and the Health Risks of Smoking,
HC 27-I, para. 2, p. xiii. Back
10
ONS General Household Survey, 1998, cited in Statistical Bulletin
Statistics on Alcohol: England, 1978 onwards, Department
of Health, 2001 (hereafter "Statistics on Alcohol")
pp. 2-3. Back
11
ONS Mortality Statistics 1988-1999, cited in Statistics on
Alcohol, p. 8. Back
12
Your Very Good Health?, Alcohol Concern, 2002. Back
13
The 2000 British Crime Survey, England and Wales, Home
Office, 2000, cited in Statistics on Alcohol, p. 10. Back