The scenes in Wicklow Street, King’s Cross this month

CAMPAIGNERS have urged new PM Sir Keir Starmer’s bring in progressive policies to change the story on drugs.

The Transform Foundation, a leading national charity with an office in Kilburn, said there was an economic case to be made for widespread rehabilitation programmes and that supervised consumption facilities and drug testing services should be set up in London for the first time.

A public health response was better than the “punitive policing” approach that had failed to make any headway over decades, senior policy analyst Steve Rolles told the New Journal.

He said: “This is a decades old problem. Think of all of the billions of pounds and countless hours of police time that are being poured into dissuading people using drugs, and clamping down on drugs markets – it has not been effective.

“That is not a failure of the police. They arrest people, they arrest people for dealing drugs, they try and shut down drug dealing networks. “But it hasn’t stopped people using drugs and the markets are expanding not shrinking. Using punitive enforcement to eradicate drugs clearly doesn’t work.”

Amid calls for action in Wicklow Street, Mr Rolles said he understood the very valid concerns of residents in King’s Cross about “problematic drug use” that “can be intimidating and frightening”, but he added: “The problem for the police is if they do enact enforcement, you just displace it. A problem displaced is not a problem solved. Another group of residents would not be happy.”

He added: “The reality is that the brutal economics of supply and demand are the only laws they [drug addicts] pay attention to.”

SEE ALSO OUR STREET! RESIDENTS FACING ‘DRUG DEALS’ ON DOORSTEP STAND TOGETHER TO DEMAND ACTION

Transform is backing a police tactic called diversion where those found in possession of drugs are diverted to health interventions rather than prosecuted.

A criminal record can have a devastating impact on vulnerable people, he said.

“They need a package of services – housing, mental health, interventions, rehabilitation. Services are woefully under-funded, “ he said. “We need to end criminalisation of people who use drugs.”

Mr Rolles said the charity was aware that “problematic use of heroin and crack was a barometer of wider social problems and challenges”, adding: “As the cost of living crisis goes up, more people are struggling with homelessness. Drugs are a way of self medicating the trauma and misery in their lives. It is a political challenge. The fault lies with the politicians and the laws they have created.”

He said he was also aware of the “emerging and deeply concerning problem” of super potent opioids that are filling a void left by the heroin supply from Afghanistan being constricted.

He said: “Why are there no drug testing services in London? There is one in Bristol. One in Scotland. And there are like 50 in the Netherlands.

“That is something that could usefully be provided in Camden. We need supervised consumption spaces. These are two things that are urgently needed.”

Adults struggling with drugs or alcohol are advising to seek help from Camden’s contractor Change Grow Live on 020 7485 2722. Overdose reversing Naloxone kits and drug safety testing kits are available from CGL’s base in Kings Terrace, Camden Town.