Illegal drug use in Greater Manchester amongst the highest in Europe

11.16.00am GMT Fri 7th Nov 2008

Illegal drug use in the Greater Manchester region is amongst the highest in Europe, figures released yesterday suggest.

A report from the European Union's drug agency, the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction, showed that young people in the UK are more likely to use cocaine, amphetamines and Ecstasy than any other country in Europe.

Elwyn Watkins, Liberal Democrat PPC for Oldham East & Saddleworth, said: "We already know from existing that Greater Manchester has the third highest amount of drug crime in the UK, after Greater London and Merseyside. So this latest news puts us amongst the worst areas for illegal drugs in the whole of Europe.

"This shows a complete failure of the government to tackle Britain's drug problems over the last ten years.

"One of the biggest failures has been prison policy - often people come out of prison with more drug addiction problems than they came in with.

"Prison should be about rehabilitation and reform - not about getting people more addicted."

Related Links:

EMCDDA - Up to date statistics on the drug situation in Europe 2008.

British Crime Survey.