Rural Crime
Drugs Prevention in Rural Areas
A Home Office commissioned review of research (Tackling drugs : DPI Paper 17 Drugs Prevention in Rural Areas) indicated that drugs were widely available in rural areas but that there were no reliable data by which to compare rural and urban drug misuse. Rural drug availability had increased, the extent and nature of misuse varied from area to area, and the most commonly misused drug was cannabis.
Other relevant findings were:
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the principal distinguishing feature of drugs prevention work in rural areas was a marked reluctance to acknowledge that there was a problem;
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the relative lack of anonymity led to a fear of identification or stigmatisation;
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young people were more visible and therefore attracted more attention and stronger policing of their behaviour.
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there was a low awareness of services, and they were seen as neglected;
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other difficulties for service providers were finding suitable premises, the cost of travel, and the recruitment, training, management and support of staff.
The report made a number of good practice recommendations, suggesting that interventions were more likely to succeed if they took a broad-based approach, setting drugs issues within a wider social and family context. This helped overcome fear of identification and stigma and capitalised on more readily acknowledged concerns, such as family problems, community safety, alcohol consumption, and threatening or noisy public behaviour. Supporting and building on existing community structures and networks was also found effective.
Some work co-funded by a local probation service found that it was particularly important in rural areas for a drugs worker to win the confidence of local statutory agencies at both senior levels and on the ground and to become well-known to both drug-using and non-drug using communities.
Other research indicates that getting drug misusing offenders into treatment can reduce offending by up to 80%. The Department of Health is currently considering drug treatment capacity issues, particularly as they apply to rural areas.
The Home Office Joint Funding Initiative (Home Office Circular 41/1999) match-funded the police service and other local partners in the setting up of Arrest Referral Schemes in police station custody suites and in the purchase of drug treatment. In bidding, specific rural considerations, such as the need for arrest referral workers to be mobile, could be taken into account. There is expected to be a significant impact on rural crime committed to support drug misuse and on fear of crime.
Visit the Home Office Drugs Prevention Advisory Service (DPAS) website for a range of information, research and guidance on drugs prevention topics.
Last update: 09/09/03