United Kingdom Country Profile

Drug policy

The United Kingdom’s (UK) Drug Strategy has two main aims: (i) to reduce illicit and other harmful drug use; (ii) to increase the number of people recovering from their dependence. It looks to do this by: i) reducing demand; (ii) restricting supply; and (iii) building recovery in communities.

Quality treatment is viewed as an effective way to tackle the problem of drug use.
The UK drug strategy notes that key to helping drug users re-integrate into society is coordination and integration across a range of service providers.
Drug treatment encompasses a range of available treatments and services. These include community and primary care-based prescribing, community one-to-one and group-based psychosocial interventions to support recovery, inpatient treatment, day programmes, as well as residential drug treatment and rehabilitation support.

One of the main aims of the UK drug strategy is to establish a life-long approach to drug prevention. This covers early years, family support, drug education and targeted specialist support.
Drug strategies opt for a broad approach to prevention. This does not target drugs specifically, and instead looks to strengthen general resilience factors associated with reducing the inclination to explore risky behaviours, including drug use.
Prevention interventions encompass a wide range of complementary approaches.
Drug prevention is part of the national curriculum throughout most of the United Kingdom. The focus is on building resilience in young people.
Most schools have a drug education policy and guidelines for dealing with incidents that involve drugs.