Boris Johnson warned middle class drug users he will not sit 'idly by' and let them fund crime today as he unveiled a £300million narcotics blitz.
The Prime Minister warned recreational users face being stripped of their passports and driving licences under new curbs unveiled today, as he joined police on a dawn raid.
They also face receiving text messages from police if their numbers are found on dealers' phones.
Writing in the Daily Mail today, Priti Patel warns that repeat offenders could even be placed on home curfews.
Speaking in Liverpool this morning Mr Johnson also vowed to get 'very tough' on so-called 'county lines' gangs taking drugs from urban areas into more affluent parts of the country.
'What we're also saying is we're not going to sit idly by when you have lifestyle users also using Class A drugs, and we're going to be coming down tougher on them,' he said.
'We are looking at doing things to tackle those so-called lifestyle drug users who don't think they are part of the problem. In the end, all the demand is helping to create the problem.
'The 300,000 problem drugs users, you've got to deal with what is going on there, you've got to make sure they are given rehab, you've got to come down tough on the county lines gangs, but you've also got to think about what is happening with the demand, the economic advantage that is given to the gangs by the lifestyle users as well.'
The moves are part of a law and order package that will also involve:
£145million in funding to help the police smash the county lines drugs gangs bringing misery to towns and cities across the country. Changes to allow all rape victims to give evidence by video link to drive up woeful prosecution rates. Drug testing of those serving community service for drug offences, with the option of jail for those caught abusing banned substances. Additional support for drug treatment centres to help wean addicts off their habits and rebuild their lives. Publication of new crime 'scorecards' designed to identify weaknesses in tackling a string of offences, including rape and sexual assault. A prisons white paper containing measures aimed at improving discipline and cutting the supply of drugs. Expanded drug testing of people arrested for other offences to identify those who need help getting clean. An advertising campaign on university campuses warning students that drugs could wreck their lives.
Speaking in Liverpool this morning Mr Johnson also vowed to get 'very tough' on so-called 'county lines' gangs taking drugs from urban areas into more affluent parts of the country.
The Home Office said part of the £300million drugs package would be used to dismantle 2,000 county lines drugs operations
'What we're also saying is we're not going to sit idly by when you have lifestyle users also using Class A drugs, and we're going to be coming down tougher on them,' Mr Johnson said.
He added: 'We are looking at doing things to tackle those so-called lifestyle drug users who don't think they are part of the problem. In the end, all the demand is helping to create the problem'
Mr Johnson accused drugs gangs of 'making hell' of people's lives, saying: 'We want everybody to be able to grow up in safer streets, everybody to have the right to have a safe community to grow up in and too many people have their lives blighted by these county lines gangs, so you've got to do two things at once.
'You've got to be tougher on the county lines gangs, you've got to be tougher on the criminals who are doing it, but you've also got to make sure that you find those 300,000 people and you help them.
'You can't simply arrest them time after time and put them back into prison again and again - you've got to do rehab as well.'
The Home Office said part of the £300million drugs package would be used to dismantle 2,000 county lines drugs operations, in which criminals exploit vulnerable youngsters to deliver drugs to towns and cities outside the main conurbations.
Also in the strategy, more resources will be made available to divert addicts into programmes designed to help them kick their habits. And Home Office sources yesterday played down claims that the new approach will lead to fewer users being sent to prison.
The overall cost of drugs crime is estimated at £20billion a year.
Shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper said a new drug strategy is 'long overdue because we have gone badly backwards'.
She said a combination of a public health response and criminal justice response is necessary.
She told the BBC Radio 4 Today programme: 'What we've had over the last 10 years is we've had the public health response badly cut. We've also had the criminal justice system badly cut - because you've had the reduction in policing, the reduction in prosecutions, the reduction in action through the courts and so on.
Also in the strategy, more resources will be made available to divert addicts into programmes designed to help them kick their habits. And Home Office sources yesterday played down claims that the new approach will lead to fewer users being sent to prison.
'So it is possible to combine these two things
