PRIME Minister-in-waiting Gordon Brown has signalled a new war on drug crime - saying it should start in primary schools.
The Chancellor promised a review of the government's anti-drug strategy during a keynote speech in Manchester, when he addressed the nation's most senior police officers.
"It's now time, I believe, for a radical review of our anti-drugs strategy," Mr Brown told about 200 officers, including chief constables, during his speech at the Midland Hotel.
He said he wanted to `name and shame' drug dealers and `push out the gangs' at the same time as `getting addicts into treatment and getting them to stay the course'.
"Drug education needs to reach children at an earlier age, in primary schools as well as secondary schools," Mr Brown said.
"A new anti-drug strategy will need to include every section of society and role models from all walks of life - including sport, music and business - to persuade people drugs are not the answer but the problem."
Mr Brown, who takes over from Mr Blair on June 27, said police should also play a role inside more schools to help teachers keep pupils out of trouble.
"I want to look at bringing neighbourhood policing teams into our schools so we can tackle bullying and disorder both inside and outside the school gates," he said.
Mr Brown also pledged that the Treasury would provide more cash to ease prison overcrowding and he called for tougher sentences for thugs who attacked people on public transport.
He said he was sanctioning money for `fast-build units' to ease prison over-crowding, with 2,200 extra spaces by the end of the year. He also paid tribute to officers who risked their life in the line of duty.
"There's no greater responsibility you as police officers accept and there's no greater responsibility for us in Parliament than to support you."
Mr Brown described the threat from terrorism as `unprecedented'. It was only with communities' help that it could be defeated, he added.
Brown: I'll make Britain safer
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He is VOW ing a lot here.
Hmmmm, heard this before. When all else has failed, blame drugs. Nothing to do with mass poverty Gordon?
Lets lock up more drug users while at the same time we'll be leting out rapists, burglars, and Paedophiles weeks, even months early!
Ten years on and now labour start to say they are going to do something about the drug problems? I wonder why we have such a massive problem with drugs "Wasnt it this government that decrimalised canabis?" and wasnt it this government who made possesion less of a offence????? All spin and no idea how to run a country.....
Sounds like Brown doesn't understand that alcohol is a drug. Alcohol is a drug because it's physically addictive, you can die of an overdose, you can die of chronic abuse, it makes quite a few people do monstrous things, and it causes incurable sometimes devastating fetal alcohol syndrome.
Where do people who use alcohol get the gall to tell other people they can't use cannabis? Alcohol supremacism over cannabis should offend any decent person's sense of justice. It doesn't fight crime, it promotes it, by forcing some people to use a violence causing drug, and making life so much harder for cannabis users, thoroughly angering, alienating, and financially trashing many of them.
So, good people, how come you can use alcohol but other good people can't use cannabis? You shouldn't expect people to respect the law if you won't explain why it is fair.
Kids at primary age should be made aware of all the dangers of drugs so that they can apply INFORMED CHOICE when/if they are offered drugs, including cigarettes & alcahol.
It's a shame that they will probbly aim most of this at cannabis users when alcahol & cigarettes are still legal & other drugs, class A are ignored.
Odd that you don't hear of many raids on crack farms these days do you?