A leading police officer has called on GPs to do more to help drug addicts kick their habits.
Nottinghamshire Police Deputy Chief Constable Howard Roberts, vice chair of the Association of Chief Police Officers (Acpo) drugs committee, said that currently drugs education is a “postcode lottery”.
And he said that more needs to be done to prevent young people using drugs.
Speaking at the Acpo drugs conference in Cardiff he said: “It should be unacceptable that the quality of drugs education for our young people is a postcode lottery.”
Mr Roberts added that there needs to be an “even better focus on young people” over the next 10 years to reduce the numbers of potential drug users.
He said that problems need to be tackled early, and that GPs should get more involved in helping addicts.
Mr Roberts said: “There continues to be an issue around the fact that GPs opt in to treating drug addiction. What other condition do people opt in to treating?”
He called for organisations such as primary care trust and other health bodies to get involved with schools to help young people avoid drugs in the first place.
And he said that specially trained people should be in place to deliver the anti-drugs message to schools throughout the UK.
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