The drug trade is a disaster. Drugs are an affliction that fuels violence and criminality in our society. These people destroy families, communities and relationships. The misery that they cause is incalculable.
Drug misuse was responsible for nearly 3,000 deaths in England and Wales last year. That’s more than all knife crime and road accidents combined.
Major drivers of crime are drugs. To fuel their addiction, drug dealers steal and these substances play a significant role in the commission of violent crimes such as murder.
People who are evil beyond limits run the criminal drug trade. For years, they have exploited and abounded vulnerable children in order to sell their drugs and make them slaves to their evil networks. These gangs are using children as young as 7 to transport drugs.
As the Home Secretary, it is my duty to oppose such criminality and dehumanizing exploitation.

Priti Patel writes in today’s Daily Mail that repeat offenders might be subject to home curfews.
This is why the government has increased the number of police officers on the streets. There are already over 11,000 additional officers in the communities.
They have better funding and are trained with the necessary tools and resources to fight drugs and other gangs in order to keep our communities safe.
And our approach is working – there has been a 14 per cent fall in overall crime, excluding fraud and computer misuse, in the last two years.
Over 1,500 deals lines were shut down in our county lines program. More than 7,400 arrests were made and over 4,000 children and adults have been protected. We must do more.
The Government today published a 10-year drug strategy. Our focus is on reducing crime, saving lives, and sending a clear message to the criminals – if you peddle these substances across our community, we will come after you with the full force of the law.

Boris Johnson yesterday said the Government’s ten-year drugs strategy would aim to turn the tide on the vile trade that is ‘killing kids’ (File image)
Also, this means securing the supply chain and criminal networks for drugs.
Our National Crime Agency’s and police efforts have resulted in drug supplies being confiscated before they reach our shores.
Just last month, the National Crime Agency seized 418kg (922lb) of cocaine found in a lorry with a street value of £33million.
It also includes shutting down gangs and seizing their money and assets. Then, they will be locked up. We want to close down more than 2,000 counties in three years by working with police.
To end the cycle of crime we support drug addiction treatment.
Our schools will focus on early prevention and we will support vulnerable young families.
When drug abusers are sent to prison, they will be referred for treatment.
To reduce drug consumption and increase supply, we are enforcing harsher sanctions on people who do not comply with the law. This means tougher penalties for those so-called ‘recreational’ users, such as students who ignorantly take drugs with no thought to the criminality they are supporting and those they are exploiting.
Their actions are directly leading to an increase in violent crime and people dying – but they pay no price.
This will all change. These users will face the most severe legal consequences and penalties, which include criminal sanctions, fines as well as mandatory drug-awareness courses, and removal of passports.
Certain people are more likely than others to get into the drug trap.
Unfortunately, misuse of public funds is more common among homeless people than it is in cities and towns along the coast, as well as central London boroughs. It is in everyone’s interests that we beat the problem.
All aspects of the state are coming together to fight crime and drugs for the first-time in decades.
Central government, local government, the police, prisons and probation services, the courts, the education system, the health sector – everyone. This problem must be solved and lives saved.
This is a fight for the nation, in which we go after criminals and support those who are struggling to get clean.