Cozart welcomes Government's public consultation on tackling drugs
Testing technology helps reduce drug-related crime by 20 percent
Abingdon, Oxfordshire, 31 July 2007 - Cozart plc, the medical diagnostics company which manufactures testing kits for drugs of abuse, has welcomed the Government's new public consultation on tackling drugs .
Launched 25 July by Home Secretary Rt Hon Jacqui Smith MP, the consultation is the country's largest ever. It is at the forefront of the Government's drive to update its current 10-year drug strategy, which is due to end in March 2008.
With the help of innovative drug testing technology from Cozart, the Home Office's national Drug Interventions Programme (DIP) is already enjoying unprecedented success. The DIP aims to encourage adult drug-misusing offenders into treatment and other support in a bid to prevent them re-offending. Since its introduction in 2003, drug-related crime has fallen by 20 per cent according to Home Office figures.
Cozart's RapiScan system, which allows police to rapidly detect illegal drug use, is being successfully used by 23 police forces in England and Wales . Police across Nottingham, West Midlands , Greater Manchester and South & West Yorkshire have adopted the technology across their entire forces. While drugs-related crime has fallen by up to a fifth in these areas since the introduction of the DIP, recent statistics from the latest British Crime Survey show an overall 10 percent rise in police-recorded drug offences nationwide.
Commenting on the recent public consultation news, Cozart Chief Executive Dr Chris Hand said: "Cozart fully supports the Government's announcement and the need for a comprehensive public consultation on the important issue of tackling drugs. This process will encourage new and innovative ways of dealing with a complex problem that continues to grow.
"However, we must also look to build upon ground-breaking initiatives such as the DIP, which is proving hugely effective across the areas in which it is currently in operation."
In a bid to ensure a consistent approach to drug testing, the Government has now endorsed a proposal to allow local criminal justice and policing partners to expand and extend the DIP on a self-funded basis. The move means that police forces can apply for 'intensive DIP status' to enable them to test for drugs in custody suites, provided they properly meet all of the programme's criteria. This will include compliance with existing procedures for drug testing using equipment supplied from the Home Office's current contracts with Cozart.
The Cozart ® RapiScan is the only oral fluid drug testing system used by the Home Office DIP in 173 custody suites across England and Wales out of a total of more than 600. It is also being used in a number of other settings, across the UK including the workplace, drug clinics, prisons and probation sites.
In April 2006, most police sites using the Cozart® RapiScan system commenced drug-testing all arrestees committing trigger offences, rather than only those charged.
This may lead to an increase in the number of participating police forces and may encourage any others already taking part, but which do not test across the full scope of the force area, to extend their current testing practices.
Detective Inspector Tom Coulton of West Yorkshire Police's Drug and Offender Management Unit said: " West Yorkshire Police has been a DIP Intensive area for a number of years. During the last 12 months there has been a 20 percent drop in crime which reflects a 20 percent drop in the number of people who are testing positive for Class A drugs. I believe this is directly related to the number of chaotic drug users who have entered the programme as a result of drug testing in cells and diverted away from a life of crime."
There are around 327,000 problem drug users (heroin and / or crack cocaine) in England . There is a particular focus on these users because they are responsible for 99 per cent of the costs to society of Class A drug misuse (around £15.4 billion in 2003/04), 90 per cent of which is drug-related crime.
Home Office statistics (source: www.drugs.gov.uk/drug-strategy/facts-and-statistics) show that treatment works and is cost-effective: for every £1 spent on treatment, at least £9.50 is saved in crime and health costs. The number of individuals entering drug treatment programmes in 2004/05 was 89 percent higher than in 1998 and 75 percent of those were retained in or successfully completed treatment programmes - up by 20 percent from 2002.
Every month, around 3,000 drug-misusing offenders are entering treatment through the DIP. This is on track to achieve the Government's stated objective of directing around 1,000 drug-misusing offenders into treatment every week by 2008.
Ends
Enquiries:
Cozart plc:
Tel: 01235 861 483
Dr Chris Hand, Chief Executive
Chris Yates , Finance Director
Remarkable Group:
Tel: 02380 713 020
Carrie Lowe
Matthew Trace
Notes to Editors - Cozart plc
Cozart is a medical diagnostics company which develops, manufactures and sells immunodiagnostic tests, predominantly those used for the detection of drugs of abuse. Cozart's products include laboratory based testing kits for the detection of drugs in a variety of biological samples and the Cozart ® RapiScan and Cozart ® DDS systems, portable devices used for the on-site testing of drugs of abuse in saliva (oral fluid) samples. In July 2004 Cozart floated on London 's AIM (trading symbol: CZT). Cozart has wholly owned subsidiaries in Spain (Spinreact SA based near Barcelona ); Sweden (HL Scandinavia and Medib Scandinavian), Italy (Cozart Italia) and the UK (Nemesis Scientific Limited).
Cozart supplies point of contact testing products, laboratory services and forensic testing kits to the criminal justice (e.g. police forces, probation services and prisons), medical (e.g. hospitals and drug dependency clinics) and workplace markets (e.g. pre-employment, random and 'for cause' testing) both in the UK and internationally.