A systematic review commissioned by the Home Office has found that the UK’s drug policies may be causing more serious violence than they prevent, according to a new report.
The research, conducted by the independent, not-for-profit research organisation RAND, examined the impact of drug-related law enforcement activity on serious violence and homicide between 2011 and 2024. The review was commissioned as part of the government’s long-term drugs strategy, From Harm to Hope: a 10-year drugs plan to cut crime and save lives.
RAND researchers systematically reviewed previously published studies to address five key questions, including whether certain types of drug-related law enforcement are effective in reducing serious violence, what aspects make them more or less likely to be effective, and whether they have unintended consequences.
After analysing the full texts from 33 studies published since 2011, the researchers found that “drug-related law enforcement activities are of limited effectiveness in reducing violence.” Adding that “more studies demonstrated an association between drug-related law enforcement activities and increased violence than decreased violence.”
The report states: “These findings broadly reflect those of the earlier systematic review (Werb et al., 2011), which found that increasing drug law enforcement was unlikely to reduce drug market violence alone and risked exacerbating it.”
The findings of the report were welcomed by leading experts in harm reduction. “It is welcome to see the systemic failure confirmed by work commissioned and published by the Home Office itself. It certainly makes it a lot harder for them to ignore,” Steve Rolles, senior policy analyst at Transform Drug Policy Foundation, told Filter magazine.
“The counterproductive nature of drug law enforcement has been very obvious for a long time,” Rolles said. “The war on drugs has fueled an arms race between law enforcement agencies and organized crime groups—ensuring only the most cunning and violent crime groups prosper.”
The report identified some areas of law enforcement that appeared to reduce, or have a neutral effect on, serious violence, such as when interventions are directed towards a specific area or group.
However, many policies, such as ‘selective enforcement’ which involves crop eradication and large scale drug confiscation, were seen to increase levels of violence and murder, especially in drug trafficking countries such as Mexico. Overall, the report leans towards drug policies and police intervention in drug crimes having a negative effect on instances of violence and murder.
Of the eight types of law enforcement activity identified in the review, selective enforcement tactics implemented locally appeared the most promising in reducing violence, although the evidence base was limited.
The report urges relevant agencies planning drug-related law enforcement actions to “consider the risk of increased violence,” particularly for interventions where available evidence suggests a strong association with increased violence, such as leadership removal and drug seizures.
