Letter

Statistics on misuse of drugs have been misused

BMJ 1998; 317 doi: 10.1136/bmj.317.7169.1388 (Published 14 November 1998)
Cite this as: BMJ 1998;317:1388.1

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  1. Gerry V Stimson, Director,
  2. Matt Hickman, Senior research fellow,
  3. Paul J Turnbull, Research fellow
  1. Centre for Research on Drugs and Health Behaviour, Department of Social Science and Medicine, Imperial College School of Medicine, Science and Technology, London SW6 1RQ

    EDITOR —The government's anti-drugs strategy places great emphasis on reducing drug related crime.1 Part of its concern is based on evidence of high drug use among offenders and the assumption that crime is driven by the need to finance drug use and may be prevented if problem drug users are diverted into treatment. The white paper reports that “latest indications from a random sample of suspected offenders arrested by the police suggest that over 60% of arrestees have traces of illegal drugs …

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