Illegal drug use in Greater Manchester amongst the highest in Europe - Alcock

11.28.00pm GMT Fri 7th Nov 2008

Illegal drug use in the Greater Manchester region is amongst the highest in Europe, according to figures released yesterday.

A report from the European Union's drug agency, the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction, showed that young people in the UK are more likely to use cocaine, amphetamines and Ecstasy than any other country in Europe.

Mark Alcock, Liberal Democrat spokesperson for Oldham West & Royton, said: "We already know from existing data that Greater Manchester has the third highest amount of drug crime in the UK, after Greater London and Merseyside. So this latest news puts us amongst the worst areas for illegal drugs in the whole of Europe.

"This shows a complete failure of the government to tackle Britain's drug problems over the last ten years.

"One of the biggest failures has been prison policy - often people come out of prison with more drug addiction problems than they went in with.

"Prison should be about rehabilitation and reform - not about getting people more addicted."