Discussing this topic on a purely empirical level would be ignoring some of the most important, and ‘costly’, implications of the drug taking in the UK at present. Therefore, we must examine both the actual ‘costs’ the drug taking in the UK results in; whether they are costs to the NHS, the Police Force or the CJS; but also the costs to the communities in the UK, with respect to crime, violence and the impact on the quality of life of the UK residents.

To begin on the most basic level, illicit drug taking costs both the User and the Tax Payers money. There are a wide range of estimations on how many people per year take drugs in the UK, however the figures in ‘The National Audit of Drug Misuse In Britain’ by the ISDD1 show that in 1995, there were approximately 37,000 ‘notified’ drug addicts in the UK, with a very high proportion, around 45%, being between the ages of 24 and 31 (exclusive). This implies that around 45% of the illicit drug takers in the UK are, to a certain extent, those who are relied on to be the form the main part of the workforce; and these people in this age range are at some point not able to function due to t

Source: HM Treasury: Spending Review 2000 (http://www.archive.official-documents.co.uk/document/cm48/4807/chap29.html)

H.M Customs and Excise has spent on this occasion £43.6 million investing in the prevention of drug imports; but this is not the end. This is simply another way of trying to prevent drug importation, already millions upon millions of pounds per year are being spent on the same thing by H.M. Customs and Excise. Their methods are very much drug prevention orientated, as apposed to drug treatment:

There is also an effect on the overall GDP of the country; drug users do not contribute towards the GDP as the very act of buying illicit drugs is illegal; and so the people who sell the drugs themselves (the Dealers) will neither declare their incomes for taxation reasons, nor count towards the Nation’s output. The main dealers themselves earn huge amounts of money from their trading; if were we were to take the value of Cocaine in 1995, £50-70 per gramme3, and compare that with the number of seizures by H.M. Customs and Excise in the same year, we find that the value of the Cocaine seized was between £47,035,000 and £65,849,000.4 Obviously this was not the total amount of Cocaine brought into the country, however despite this it is a sizeable amount; an amount which is not contributing at all to the country’s GDP.

As many drug takers in the country are criminals by default, this means that the culture of illicit drug taking in the UK creates systemic criminality; and thus even more costs to the police and CJS.

Some topics in this essay:
Customs Excise, Spending Review, According ACLU, England Wales, CJS Finally, Treatment Budget, Britain’ ISDD1, System Finally, Police CJS, Misuse Britain, illicit drug, drug taking, illicit drug taking, customs excise, hm customs, drug users, illicit drugs, hm customs excise, drug takers, drug taking uk, class drug, drug misuse, class drugs, britain 1996 isdd, drug misuse britain,