Dealers sell pick'n'mix drugs

Inner-City drug dealers are openly selling "pick'n'mix" bags of heroin and crack cocaine despite Government efforts to tackle the problem at local level.

Research for the Home Office describes measures to combat drugs as "pretty woeful" and shows how crack cocaine has taken over from heroin as the drug of choice in some cities.

In a study of drugs markets in eight of the UK's most deprived areas, academics from the London School of Economics and South Bank University found the prevalence of hard drugs seems to have got worse in spite of Labour's 10-year strategy.

The Rock and a Hard Place report is critical of drug action teams (Dats) for failing to develop detailed knowledge of the markets and says "the interventions were not containing the problem. Drug markets were growing."

The report comes as Home Secretary David Blunkett has signalled the Government is ready to downgrade cannabis from a class B to a class C drug, so possession is no longer an arrestable offence.

It also follows comments by Commander Brian Paddick, the police chief behind the controversial "softly-softly" approach to cannabis possession in Brixton, who yesterday told the Guardian: "Cannabis and other drugs are so easily available in all parts of the country, who would want to come to Brixton for them?"

The "pick'n'mix" trend, where a bag of heroin and a rock of crack are sold together at £30, down from £35, is just one to emerge from the report that looked at eight unnamed areas with "vibrant and busy" drugs markets.

Ruth Lupton, one of the authors, said the efforts of Dats and regeneration partnerships were "pretty woeful" when the study was carried out last year. None of the partnership groups - including police, councils, housing providers, community groups and youth offending teams - had detailed knowledge of dealing, prices, availability, levels of violence or drug trends.

"Given that Dats had been in existence for over five years, this is a disappointing picture," the report says.

Since the research finished, the Home Office has pumped £220 million into Communities Against Drugs programmes. Earlier this week, London estates were allocated a further £7.5 million for anti-drugs initiatives.

The study, based on interviews with frontline workers, residents and drug users, found each area "awash" with drugs. On the London estates, crack was widely available and for sale at a £5 discount when users bought two rocks, normally £20 each. Violence and the use of guns was an increasing worry in every area. In one estate, six out of nine drug users admitted being attacked by dealers.

Of 55 drug users interviewed, all but one had a criminal history. They were spending an average £170 a week on drugs. Juveniles were involved in four of the markets as sellers, runners or buyers. The researchers found "the market for crack was providing a significant economic opportunity for young people whose formal labour market prospects were weak".