영국의 10개년 마약 대응 정책: From harm to hope 2021-2031 - 청소년 보호와 재활을 중심으로 -

Abstract

In July 2021, the UK Home office appointed one of the three ministers as a combating drugs minister, and in December of the same year, and the UK government announced “From harm to hope,” a 10-year plan for drug response. The UK's proactive response to the spread of drugs seems to have been driven by a sense of crisis that the drug situation in the UK, which has been worsening in recent years, can no longer be left unattended. After the 2009 critical situation of finance, the UK's drug policy was to reduce the budget related to treatment and rehabilitation as much as possible while continuing the punishment of drug crimes. However, in the 10-year plan, it has been acknowledged that the old method was ineffective. In addition, the UK government announced that it would focus on increasing quality treatment and rehabilitation facilities by investing a lot of national budget in the future to help existing substances users get out of the revolving door. Furthermore, it was said that drug gangs that earn criminal proceeds from drug sales would be investigated and punished more strongly. Regarding youth policy, the UK government first stated that it would continue to carry out sweeping operations against county lines that exploit teenagers or vulnerable adults as a lowest ranking members of drug gangs. Secondly, according to the “From harm to hope”, based on research that shows that out-of-school teenagers generally have more drug problems, school-based drug education will be strengthened to prevent students from falling into substance misuse. Thirdly, since adolescents with mental health problems often fall into drug problems, a 10-year plans said they would preemptively respond to drug problems by investing their budgets in counseling and treatment for adolescents who present a risk to mental health. Fourthly, based on the perception that the drug addiction can never be solved by imposing punishment, it was said that it would prioritize treatment and rehabilitation in society rather than criminalizing youths with substance misuse problems. Lastly, teenagers whose parents have drug problems are not only victims of substance misuses, but also are likely to be drug users in the future, so protection and support these teenagers would be the revealing and curing the hidden harm. In addition to youth policies, there are three main policies for adults. First of all, discussions on the decriminalization of mere drug possession are being applied to actual cases, mainly by police in some areas, and the UK government is also empowering the prevention of recidivism through encouraging treatment and rehabilitation rather than punishment for drug possession. In this context, the basic direction of the policy is to impose social diversion on substance users rather than custody to help them treat and rehabilitate drug addiction problems. The Drug Rehabilitation Compliance (DRR) Order is the most representative system. Finally, in July 2023, Intensive supervision courts were launched in three regions in the UK, which specialized the existing problem-solving courts in relation to drugs and strengthened management and supervision. This is also a system that focuses on preventing recidivism through treatment and rehabilitation rather than punishment of drug users.