Good evening and thank you to everyone who has attended today’s event. I am delighted to give the keynote speech on heightening parental awareness to drug misuse, and to outline Government activity in this area.

As Minister with responsibility for assisting Mo Mowlam in co-ordinating the Government’s anti-drugs policy, I receive a significant number of letters from people whose children are involved in drug misuse or fear that they will become involved, and who do not know how to cope with the problem.

The Government realises that a sophisticated solution is needed to address what is a complex problem. There are no easy answers to dealing with the problem. We are therefore looking for long-term solutions, based on evidence of what works, and will promote action against drugs that will have lasting effects.

That is why we have introduced a balanced 10-year anti-drugs strategy which seeks to create a healthy and confident society, increasingly free from the harm caused by drug misuse. The strategy aims to address substance misuse as an element of social exclusion, acknowledging for the first time the link between drug misuse and social conditions. It highlights the need for targeted action to reduce drug-related offending, to help the most vulnerable groups, and to link with strategies to enhance educational and employment opportunities.

We will best achieve this by:

• encouraging young people to resist taking drugs in the first place so that they can realise their full potential

• helping communities to protect themselves from drug related anti-social and criminal behaviour

• providing treatment to help everyone involved to overcome their drug addiction and

• stifling the availability of drugs on our streets

We know that this will be difficult because drug addiction is a chronic illness but we are fully committed to the task. In that respect, we are working to ensure a co-ordinated approach towards the provision of drug support services in each and every community where people are suffering so that misusers can come forward with confidence and receive the appropriate services to meet their individual needs. I welcome the work being carried out by the International Christian Community Centre here in Wigan to help the local community by heightening drug awareness, highlighting the common misconceptions of drug abuse and offering both spiritual and practical assistance.

I believe that the Government’s anti-drug strategy is correct to focus on helping young people to resist drug misuse. Research indicates that one in twelve 12 year olds, one in three 14 year olds and nearly half of all 16 year olds have tried drugs at least once. These youngsters are our future and must be given sufficient support to resist entering a downward spiral which drugs and criminal behaviour brings. It is vital therefore, that young people and those responsible for them, should be prepared both to resist drugs and as necessary, handle drug related problems. The provision of information, skills and support is necessary to reach and help those groups at high risk of developing very serious problems to themselves and others.

Of course this approach needs to start at an early age. We are committed to teaching young people from the age of five upwards the skills needed to resist pressure to misuse drugs and inform them about the risks and consequences of taking drugs. We are doing this through the national curriculum.

• At key stage 1, five to seven year-olds know about the role of drugs as medicines.

• At key stage 2, seven to eleven-year olds are taught that tobacco, alcohol and other drugs have harmful effects.

• At key stage 3, eleven to fourteen year-olds learn that the abuse of alcohol, solvents, tobacco and other drugs affects health, that the body’s natural defence may be enhanced by immunisation and medicines, and how smoking affects lung structure and gas exchange.

• At key stage 4, youngsters of fourteen to sixteen learn about the effects of solvents, tobacco, alcohol and other drugs on their body’s functions.

However, we are also going beyond the classroom to get our message across. A good example of this is the recently launched Positive Futures, a £1 million initiative, partly funded from assets seized from convicted drug traffickers, to help vulnerable 10-16 year olds to steer clear of drugs and crime via participation in sports activities.

In many cases, young people are aware of drugs but are often not aware of the dangers of drugs. It is therefore important that the curriculum presents a balanced approach to all of the dangers that children and young people face in their development. I am confident that these and other initiatives will make a significant contribution to the drug strategy key performance target to reduce the proportion of young people using the drugs which cause the greatest harm – heroin and cocaine – by 25% by 2005 and by 50% by 2008.

In trying to defend communities against drug related anti-social behaviour, we must encourage communities to become involved with local agencies such as Drug Action Teams, the police and health and local authorities. This will improve communication and awareness of the problems specific to the area and encourage a more cohesive partnership approach to addressing these problems. I understand that local Community Partnership Schemes are having some success in dealing effectively with local disorder issues.

The recent Metropolitan Police Rat on a Rat campaign in London proved a huge success with more than 700 drug dealers and users being arrested, and a single anonymous call leading to the discovery of a £1 million drugs factory.

It is important that that we involve the community, empower people and show them that they are not alone in a community where drugs have become a normal part of life. We owe each community the support of getting drug dealers off people’s backs and away from their families and we will not be content until we have done so.

To this end, we have pledged £20 million over three years for the expansion of Arrest Referral Schemes throughout England and Wales to enable drug misusers to enter treatment programmes. The Home Secretary has also recently announced the successful evaluation of the pilot schemes of the Drug Treatment and Testing Orders which will be rolled-out nationally later this year.

We have also announced funding of £300k to help local communities to confront the drug problems afflicting their own area, through working closely with the police, local authorities and Drug Action Teams. People who are directly affected by a family member’s drug misuse are well placed to tackle the problem within the community. They understand the drug user’s lifestyle and have experience of coping with its effects and of helping with care and rehabilitation. Their local knowledge, experience and enthusiasm have in the past been hampered by a lack of funds. This initiative seeks to address this problem.

In addition to protecting our communities from drug-related anti-social behaviour, the strategy seeks to enable people with drug problems to overcome them and live healthy and crime-free lives. Consequently, we have set tough targets to increase the participation of problem drug misusers into drug treatment programmes – 66% by 2005 and 100% by 2008.

In October 1999, the Prison Service launched CARATs (Counselling, Assessment, Referral, Advice and Throughcare service), a multi-agency approach to tackling drug misuse among prisoners. The service is now available in every prison in England and Wales. CARATs provides the foundation of the Prison Service drug treatment framework and offers a consistent means of working with prisoners with drug problems. This basic low level intervention is aimed at prisoners with low to moderate drug misuse problems and seeks to provide a seamless continuum of care inside and outside prison through:

• Identifying drug misusers as soon as possible

• Providing ongoing support throughout their time in prison

• Working in conjunction with agencies inside and outside prison to ensure inmates are properly assessed and directed to the most effective intervention to tackle their problem

• Linking the various departments and agencies that deal with prisoners in order to provide continuity between treatment in prison and that available on release, and

When prisoners are nearing release, CARAT workers are responsible for ensuring that they are referred to suitable services in the outside community. Post-release, if there is no available community support, CARAT workers may continue work with the prisoner to ensure continued support in the critical period following release. The Prison Service looks to other agencies to fulfil their responsibilities after that point.

Other initiatives we are pursuing to assist communities include:

• a further £400,000 from the Confiscated Assets Fund to be used to fund projects to help those who have managed to escape the misery of drugs through treatment, to find employment and re-enter society;

• an additional £1.5m will be used to carry out research into the specific needs of vulnerable groups, such as women, minority ethnic communities or homeless drug users and to set up projects which aim to meet those needs.

It is essential we continue to give our children all the help we can. Helping young people resist drug misuse in order to achieve their full potential is a key element in our strategy:

• we are working with Childline and Crimestoppers to identify the best way of offering counselling, and support for children and identifying those who target children; and

• we are developing the first ever long-term study on the best way of educating children on drugs.

The Government realises that without the dedication of many people at both national and local level, the achievements we are seeking could not be delivered. We appreciate the hard work undertaken in often very difficult circumstances and with limited resources and we are confident that the measures being implemented are and will continue to make a real difference to society.