Soccer fans are being tested for drugs when they are arrested by police after an increase in cocaine-driven violence at matches.
Chief Constable Richard Lewis, the National Police Chief’s lead on drugs, told MPs on Wednesday that he wanted to see a major expansion of the testing of football thugs amid increasing cocaine use before, during and after matches.
He told the Home Affairs Committee there was a growing body of evidence that cocaine use was on the rise among fans, creating a “potentially problematic cocktail” of drug-induced euphoria and confidence in the “highly emotionally charged” atmosphere of a football match .
“We are seeing increasing use of cocaine at football matches,” he said. “We would like to increase the drug testing on arrest for those arrested for football-related disorder.”
He said this would not only enable the police to identify the culprits – and allow offenders to be placed above and beyond any punishment on drug treatment orders – but also help the police determine the extent of the problem. .
Mr Lewis, chief constable of the Dyfed-Powys police force, responded to Bury North Tory MP James Daly, a Huddersfield Town supporter, who expressed concern that drugs could be behind field raids by supporters, including one in May at his home club .
He was backed by Charlie Doyle, assistant chief constable at the British Transport Police (BTP), who revealed that BTP carried out “discrete” drug-testing on trains to try to determine the extent of the problem. Traces were found on match days on tables, train handles and in the toilets, he said.
He told MPs the police would welcome the power to test for arrest and to link it to football ban orders “so we can stop people going to football where there is evidence of drug abuse.”
The Government is currently drawing up plans to suppress middle-class drug users whose habits blame ministers for inciting the violent drug trade. MPs have been told that Britons consume 117 tonnes of cocaine a year in a trade worth £ 11 billion a year.
According to the proposals, football fans who take cocaine or other class A drugs after matches will face a five-year ban on all sites.
They can also have their passports confiscated if their team or England play abroad, as well as travel bans and exclusion zones around the site. Anyone who violates the injunctions can be sent to prison for up to six months.
As well as the temporary removal of passports or driver’s licenses, offenders may also face curfew rules and increased purposes designed to punish and deter repeat drug users.
Police Minister Kit Malthouse said in the past year nearly 3,000 people had died from illegal drugs – more than from all knife crime and road traffic accidents – while there had also been a 19 per cent increase in drug use.
That was why the government set a target to reduce drug use to a 30-year low within a decade. “It will take bold steps to show we are serious about bringing about impactful consequences for anyone who snores, sniffs, swallows or smokes,” Mr Malthouse wrote in an article for the Telegraph last month.