Policing drugs in a rapidly changing environment: Challenges, innovation and reform (2018-20) (BA/Leverhulme Small Research Grant)

Globally, countries are adopting policies that favour public health strategies over a strictly penal approach to drug problems. In the UK, however, where use remains relatively high, drug-related deaths are at record levels, and budget cuts have had a detrimental effect on existing services, the Government persists with prohibition enforced through punitive interventions and has failed to introduce promising new measures. 

This research explores an interesting reform dynamic that is playing out in the policing of drugs. In the absence of policy reform at a national level, a number of police forces and police and crime commissioners (PCCs) have started exercising their discretionary authority and experimenting with innovative approaches that constitute a shift away from traditional enforcement interventions towards a focus on harm reduction.