John Vine in the firing line

The Scottish chief constable who handled the 2005 G8 policing operation at Gleneagles has stepped in to the firing line again. John Vine, chief constable of Tayside Police, returned from the 2007 G8 conference in Germany and stepped into the frying pan with a controversial suggestion for handling drug offenders.

Prompted by his force’s annual report at the end of June, John Vine posed the question: “Is it not time we reconsidered treating chaotic heroin users on the NHS?”

He claimed to be somewhat surprised at the outrage that followed over ‘druggies being treated on the NHS’.

Tayside Police had just announced its highest-ever detection rate, plus a drop in recorded crime. But these statistics were marred by the huge increase in stealing offences committed by chaotic drug addicts, plus a three-fold increase in drugs seizures. The message from this situation was obvious to Mr Vine and he applied what he called ‘a cop’s solution’. As he commented wistfully, “drugs enforcement work is hard and Tayside Police has applied itself rigorously to this rising crime sector. However, the need is obvious to cut off the addicts from the market. We are not good at this aspect.”

The police have tackled the enforcement of the drugs laws, they have managed also to cut off some supply of drugs. However, they have been ineffective in notably reducing demand for Class A drugs. Mr Vine wants the matter to be openly discussed.

“Prescription for addicts is a matter for health services not police,” he said. “However, it is time that such matters were debated outside the usual moral panic that accompanies such suggestions.”

Within two days of his comments, the Tayside Police website received 8,500 hits. All incoming letters, emails and comments were supportive.

However, the immediate reaction from the Scottish Executive was a statement from the Minister for Community Safety, Fergus Ewing. It was, as expected, cold water and he claimed that no plans currently exist for such a project. At the same time, Mr Ewing expressed sympathy for John Vine’s opinion that drug addict criminals need to be treated outside prison. However, this answer could have been written for any government politician over the past ten years. It was long on sympathy and determination, but notably absent was any mention of new funding.

Mr Vine appears to be well informed on UK projects. The National Treatment Agency (NTA) is currently running a major drugs treatment trial across England. Jane Eccles of the NTA said: “A Randomised Injectable Opiates Treatment Trial (RIOTT) is being funded by an initial grant from the Home Office, with contributions from the health service. The research is being funded by the Big Lottery Fund, with the RIOTT contract being managed by the NTA on behalf of government. This is the first time diamorphine prescribing has been subject to a randomised controlled research study in England.”

Around 150 patients will be recruited to the trial, which will take place across a number of sites in England. These patients will receive one of three controlled prescriptions in accordance with the scientific trial: injectable diamorphine, injectable methadone or oral methadone. The first report from the trial will be at the end of 2008, and may well provide some ammunition for John Vine and those who agree with him.

Mr Vine stated that he is not an expert on drugs matters, but that he is a cop who has to deal with the effects. He believes that the time is now right to work in partnership with other services and run a pilot. He has offered his force for this purpose.

Difficult

Mr Vine is not decrying the current systems working with this problem and has no intention of appearing to be soft on drug dealers. However, he believes that this matter has always been regarded as too difficult. The other commentators are all well respected by him. But the simple matter is that the same problem exists in all other forces and the prices of Class A drugs have now reached