This submission raises a number of issues, focusing on evidence relating to the cocaine market.
We make a number of conclusions to address harms from recreational and problematic cocaine use and markets:
- Social norms marketing pilots should be considered as part of a multi-component approach to increasing resilience to cocaine use among young people.
- Problem cocaine users may require different or separate treatment pathways to heroin and crack cocaine users (who currently dominate treatment services) because of the different profiles of these two groups.
- Unlike heroin and crack cocaine, there is little evidence to suggest a strong link with prolific, acquisitive crime.
- In tackling the cocaine market, evidence suggests that “crackdowns” have little or no long term impact on street-level availability and can sometimes do more harm than good.
- We urge the Committee to highlight the need for improved knowledge development and to recommend well-evaluated pilots for interventions where the evidence-base is promising but weak.
