... fourfold increase in expenditure over 10 years, and more than two-thirds of this is allocated to the suppression of supply. Approx. four hundred thousand people are languishing in US jails for violating drug laws. Whilst it is now standard practice for purchasers of treatment services to demand clear evidence of effectiveness, no such structures are applied to enforcement agencies. It therefore time that laws were changed in order to incorporate enforcement agencies also. Temporary shortage of heroin on the US streets has been associated with the development of 'designer' drugs, often of horrifying toxicity. The figure for worldwide production of street drugs has increased dramatically over the last 10 - 15 years. Illicit production of opium has increased from 2242 tonnes in 1987 to 5000 tonnes in 1996, whilst that of coca leaves is thought to have doubled between 1985 and 1994. Customs and police officers in the developed world seem ...

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