Last week we revealed the tragic story of a mother who was forced to take her son to buy drugs. He later died of a fatal overdose. Here Brighton Pavilion MP CAROLINE LUCAS talks about why this proves a new approach to drugs is needed.

The heartbreaking story of a mother who lost her young son to a heroin addiction touched us all.

Anita Flint described the horrific ordeal of trying to help her son Ashley cope with severe withdrawal symptoms following a five-year dependency.

Having had his methadone prescription withdrawn, and in the absence of alternative treatment, Ashley was driven into the hands of street dealers. Another life tragically lost.

Our city has the highest rate of drug-related deaths in the UK.

One of my priorities as a local MP is to tackle this devastating problem head on – and I think it is time to consider a different approach to the failed ‘war on drugs’. We need a drugs policy which does far more to save lives and reduce the harms associated with drug misuse.

There is g rowing agreement among health experts and practitioners, in the police and legal professions that a prohibitionbased policy is not working.

Increasingly, people are calling for a move towards decriminalising personal use – and towards an evidence-based, public health approach to drug dependency.

The current focus on criminalising and punishing use means that the success of drugs policy is measured only in terms of the number and size of drugs seizures, how many people are arrested and the severity of prison sentences – not in terms of saving lives, reducing harm to individuals or society, or reducing levels of organised crime.

Other countries are already moving away from this failing approach – with some impressive results.

In Por tugal, for example, the number of people taking heroin has halved since its use was decriminalised. In Switzerland, a series of new policies based on public health rather than legality led to a sharp decline in heroin demand and crime.

In Brighton and Hove, we understand more than most the consequences of a drugs policy that fails citizens and communities. And having seen the commitment here to successful, evidence-based treatment and support prog rammes, I believe we are also well placed to start shaping an alternative approach that works.

As the first step in opening up a debate, I am organising a highlevel round table meeting in the city which brings together medical experts, the police and other local stakeholders. Chief Superintendent of Brighton and Hove, Graham Bartlett, who has joined my calls for a potential decriminalisation of use and a new public health approach, will be among those attending.

Over the coming months, I will be working closely with key agencies, healthcare professionals and community g roups to explore ways for us to make a change for the better.

Any new strategy should complement existing work, like the intelligent commissioning pilot on drug-related deaths and the work prog ramme of the Harm Reduction Strategy Steering Group. We can also build on the many positive examples of harm reduction work taking place in Brighton and Hove, including Operation Reduction.

And as well as projects such as CRI’s needle exchange, Brighton also has RIOTT – one of three trials examining the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of treatment with injected and oral opioids (methadone and heroin) for patients who were dependent on heroin, but did not respond to conventional oral methadone substitution treatment.

RIOTT’s users have a safe supply of both drug and related paraphernalia, which reduces their risk of contracting diseases associated with injecting. Crucially, they also have one to one support and counselling. When I visited the trial last year, participants told me it had saved their lives. It has given them back control, allowed them to kick crime, find their families and g radually reduce their drug use.

I’m also keen to look at the wider provision of naloxone, used to counter the effects of heroin or morphine overdose. Naloxone could be particularly important for those leaving prison with a history of addiction, one of the groups most vulnerable to overdose.

Brighton and Hove City Council’s Intelligent Commissioning documentation showed that 19% of local drug-related deaths in 2007 were people who had previously been in prison. Six had been released from prison within the six months prior to their death. In Scotland and Wales, successful naloxone programmes are already being rolled out.

Prog rammes like this need upfront funding, but the potential savings in terms of less police time following up drug-related crime, for example, or costs to the NHS of treating overdose and dependency, can more than compensate.

Ultimately, I hope that this is the start of a fresh debate about how we can deal with drugs differently. It won’t be easy.

A new approach, based on treating addiction as a health issue not a criminal one, is a real shift.

Any changes should be brought in slowly and carefully, with each phase properly assessed before moving on to the next.

But if we get this right, we can reduce drug-related deaths in the city and cut down on drug-related crimes on our streets.