The Guardian view on cocaine and domestic abuse: new links between drugs and crime need investigating
The Guardian · Editorial ·
Editorial: Patterns of drug supply and use are changing and the government’s five-year-old drug strategy must evolve too
A slight drop in the number of drug deaths over a year in England and Wales is the first such news since 2012. Over the past decade, the grim trajectory has been upward; the annual figure of 5,519 has more than doubled since the 1990s. Given this trend, any fall is a relief. But the spike in deaths linked to cocaine, which has overtaken heroin for the first time, as well as evidence uncovered by the Guardian of a link with domestic violence, points to the need for a drugs policy that takes account of changing usage.
Nearly six in 10 drug tests on people arrested on suspicion of domestic abuse were positive for cocaine in the year to June, while a previous study found that 59% of suspects tested positive for cocaine or opiates. Links between domestic violence and alcohol have been highlighted by campaigners since the 19th century. In 2022, a UK government report found that alcohol and drug use featured in around a third of 127 domestic homicides it examined.
But while some of the issues thrown up by substance misuse are similar – increased paranoia and aggression placing partners and other relatives of abusers at risk – there are specific challenges around illegal drug use that ministers need to address. One woman told the Guardian that she had covered up her former partner’s cocaine use because she feared police would find out that she had also taken it. Charities are frustrated by the way that the criminal penalties for drug possession make it difficult to offer and access support.
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