Addicts Account for Third of U.K. Arrests

As many as a third of all arrests in Britain involve someone addicted to hard drugs, a new study has found.

Marking the official launch of the U.K. Drug Policy Commission, the study from University of Kent researcher Alex Stevens and University of Maryland professor Peter Reuter shows the impact of drugs on current crime levels, The (London) Telegraph said Sunday.

The study was based on an earlier survey of 7,500 arrests by Britain’s Home Office.

The study found that the government’s anti-drug efforts have had little effect on drug use in Britain, which has Europe’s highest level of drug addiction.

Dame Ruth Runciman, who heads the Drug Policy Commission, said the panel would look into the report and determine the effectiveness of current drug laws.

We simply do not know enough about which elements of drug policy work, why they work and where they work well, she told the newspaper. The commission has been set up to address this by providing independent and objective analysis of drug policy and programs.