Yes heroin kills hundreds, but they have chosen to take it...if you make that personal choice you must live with the consequences.
People do not make a choice to get blown up. That is a big difference.

Peta, London,

This is an unusually ignorant article for The Times - It assumes funding figures demonstrate the urgency of the problems. Terrorism and international crime are completely different problems, with different levels of threat, needing very different approaches. Is this crime and security editor new?

T. Cross, London,

Nobody here seems to want to get to the real core. Why do people take the drugs in the first place?
Get to grips with this and the problem becomes much smaller. As an aside, I also do not see how giving awards to drug addled singers helps to fight the image of drugs!

Pete, St Albans, England

If drugs were legalized, and sold in chemists, the government could whack a huge tax on them and thus reduce ridiculous council tax levels and fuel taxes.
They could also employ their favourite big brother pasttime to monitor drug users and prosecute them the second that they commit other crimes.

dave, doncaster,

Drug barons, corrupt middlemen, drug money financing terrorism - no this is not 21st Century Britain but 19th Century China, where British businessmen smuggled in cheap opium to feed the cravings of ever desparately poor Chinese, then using the proceeds to start a war to legitimise their business.

B Hiaj, Harrow, United Kingdom

The dismantling of our freedoms and constant publication given by feeble politicians means that the terrorists have already won.

I am sure that this country has gone quite, quite mad.

J.Wilkes, Gloucester,

You said it - terrorists make body counts, drug dealers make profits. Now tell us where the profits go and why the politicians don't target this. Instead they use RIPA to target dog-fouling and litter-dropping.

Or doesn't 1+1=2 in your book?

KR, Stockport,

The governments first concern is not the safety of its citizens it is the protection of its assets. If a few thousand junkies die or a few thousand african women are forced to make a living on their backs, so what. If britain loses its position as a safe haven for investment that is serious

John S, Liverpool,

Ged, you make a good point, though I think your perspective on matters is about 50,000 years old now.

Alex Penn, Kingston, UK

Michael Long, on the subject of thinking, you ought to try it. A heroin user only harms himself physically and his family emotionally by using drugs. See if you can expand that rationale to rape, assault, etc... If a govt decides something is illegal, it doesnt automatically become morally wrong.

ari, london, uk

For the average citizen terrorism is one of the smallest risks in life - if, in the current jargon, one carries out an objective assessment of risks. The war on terrorism, like the war on global warming, is simply a political gimmick to control us more and make politicians feel more important.

David Bachauer, Manchester , UK

On the African plains 1,000s of animals graze peacefully, Predators skulk few in number. If all the animals were dying you would not feel sorry for the predators. There is something sick with the majority, not the criminals. This is the problem with social sciences. Wrong target.

ged, manchester,

Whether there is large scale sex trafficking is dubious. When the police with targets to hit could find less than 200 out of 25,000 supposed sex slaves when raiding everywhere they knew of, it is clear Operation Pentameter was just an eyecatching initiative designed to support the victim industry

George McCoy, Stone, Staffs

Lyn, everytime you wear any clothes produced in the 3rd world do you stab a baby?? according to your own logic you should.

Steve`, reading,

Whether you believe in decriminalisation of drugs or not, if you use them while they remain illegal, you are complicit in the murder, rape and violence that underpins their supply. You might as well find someone weak and defenceless and kick them in the face - you'd still be despicable, but honest.

Lyn, Birmingham,

Gordan Brown's terror war is not mistaken,as terror hits
indiscriminately,but with drugs you have a choice.
I want to be able to take the underground without fear of being blown to bits,drugs?I have never touched them and never will.
That is my choice,a terror attack,I have no choice.

David Nigel Braham, Milan, Italy

I guess we are talking about the Russian mafia, Albanian mafia, Chechen mafia, Yardies, Triads, Polish mafia, Romanian mafia, Somalian slavers......oops sorry I forgot, these are the people our economy desperately needs.

sedgwick, London, UK

Perhaps there's a more proportional relationship between resources going into fighting terrorism and a reduction in terrorism as against resources going into fighting drugs. Also, victims of terrorism are randomly selected. The main sufferers from drugs are the users themselves. They have a choice.

Tom, London,

Michael Long is a entirely incorrect in that the cash profits from the drug trade hugely outweigh those of other criminal activities. Moreover, much other criminality, such as burglary, is undertaken to finance addicts habits. The current drugs prohibition favours the drug lords.

Arnold Ward, Weybridge, Surrey, UK

I completely agree that people buying pirated DVDs should be imrisoned, they are actually paying for something that they could get free and such stupidity should be punished.
In Italy, imprisoning the "buyer" may have worked up north, but in the motherland of organised crime - Campania - it has not

A F, London,

It's simple zero tolerance. It's hard but effective

Michael Woods, Chorley, UK

opium wars wasn't that british empire declaring war on the chinese because they no longer wanted british opium.... and taliban banned opium growin when in power

zaheer, keighley, uk

Many police officers at the sharp end now agree that their "war on drugs" is pointless. Legalising and regulation (as tobacco and alcohol) will allow those who choose to kill themselves to go on with their quest. As for piracy, a free market should sort that out! Liberty!

AW, London,

Omigawd! I hope Gordon Brown doesn't read this article. He's only hot on terror because it allows him to advance the police state. If he realises what is possible while legislating against organised crime, gestapo here we come.
But a nation of drug addicts will not allow him to attack their supply.

Mike Poulsen, Reading, Berkshire

Why? Because to Gordon Brown sound bites mean more than action and, anyway, given some politician's relationships, it would be some of their friends being targeted!!!

A.Williams, Cradley Heath,

Terrorism threatens politicians persoanlly. Drug addicition, on the whole, doesn't.

Frank Upton, Solihull,

If heroin were legal organised crime would still exist , it would find another substance to sell or just undercut BOOTS. There are no easy answers to this, and the legalisers are just self servers who want cheap drugs. Druggies don't give a toss about society, ignore them.

Jason White, Paris,

Hear hear! Are we so good at losing data disks?

I am also wary of governments that start wars. Bread and circuses.

PS to someone re burglary theft etc. They are often caused by legal 'crimes' - poverty, jealousy, avarice. The consequence is what is illegal.

Jo, Olney, UK

do we include the soldiers who die protecting the poppy growers in afghanistan, the socalled war against the taliban is liked to th eopium wars of the empire days.

michael , cahersiveen-adams town, madness

"Why not do the same for burglary, assault, paedophilia, tax evasion, rape, etc. "

All of the above directly affect others.

Drug taking only directly affects the taker, the secondary crimes (theft, etc) are due to the illegality of the drugs.

Russ, Glasgow,

Why would decriminalising drugs suddenly solve the issue of organised crime? There are illegal sales of alcohol, cigarettes, DVDs, CDs, clothes, guns, video games, prescription drugs - just about any commodity you can think of. Legalisation would just be a cop out on the part of the authorities.

ST 1, Essex, England

The government can't leagalise Drugs. If they did it would put a lot of Police out of work, and they need them just in case the public get naughty. Why won't people grow up and realize who is organising this type of crime. Yes you guessed it the people who benefit most from it.

Mark, Gateshead, UK

"Try jailing drug users," says Pete from Epping. UK law already allows those in possession of drugs to be jailed and criminalised. Intent to supply is an additional offence. It hasn't worked Pete. Legalisation is a valid argument but our "leaders" won't respect public opinion and/or experience.

dns, London, UK

The drug addicts who die have usually self-administered a substance which they have bought from another drug addict and which has been adulterated with chemicals or dust to enhance the profits of the seller so he can buy more drugs. This is what kills them and their own 'friends' are the killers.

Bill , Liverpool, UK

Simple but not popular solution. Give the drugs away - the cost would be small -vis- the cost of policing, dealing with murderous suppliers and it would be uncool. No gangs of youths would be able to afford the "bling" from the gains. + users would errradicate themselves quicker.

Roy stone, glasgow,

How nice to hear sense. I am sick of politicians talking about terrorists and sounding like children terrified of the monsters under the bed.
And yes, I agree with the other comments suggesting drugs should be legalized. Pity the government doesn't have the guts.

Rowan, Oxford,

Legalise it, make the addicts queue at their GP's to get the drug and demistify it. This way you probably won't help the current crop of addicts but the future shouold be put off. Also burglaries will go down by approx 90%, this will never happen though on a purely political basis.

Dan, manchester, england

You're comparing apples and oranges: society generally approves of the fight on terrorism, but currently would not generally approve of a crackdown on organised crime (as at least one comment shows). The "intellectual property is intellectual theft" generation needs to be educated first.

Ian Kemmish, Biggleswade, UK

"All criminial activity associated with the drug trade could be ended overnight by legalising it.."

Why not do the same for burglary, assault, paedophilia, tax evasion, rape, etc.

Spot on thinking, John from London.

MICHAEL LONG, BRADFORD, WEST YORKSHIRE

Terrorism threatens politicians. That is why politicians fear it. They dont fear muggings, or any 'normal' crime, which is why those crimes get so little of their time. They only look after themselves.

Arthur, Newcastle,

The Bureaucracy is not threatened by drugs or organised crime. They can co-exist symbiotically and justify Police Bureaucracy demanding ever more resources. Terrorism undermines the State Bureaucracy's Monopoly and could lead to insecure regimes losing power.

Cynical Voter, Bristol, England

The Italians had a problem with counterfeit goods, they introduced a law which imposed massive fines on the purchasers. During two four week stays in Italy I saw the police grab buyers on three occasions. It has worked. It destroys the economics of the business. Try jailing drug users.

Pete, Epping, UK

Destruction of the poppy crop by GM-tailored insects or diseases is - at long last! - a fresh approach to the drug menace, that is at least worth investigation. But with care! America did something similar in Vietnam with Agent Orange, with unforseen adverse consequences.

Noel Falconer, Couiza, France

If drugs were legalised the security services could then address terrorism and other crime.

The war on drugs has been a total failure, just a massively profitable industry for the few who run it.

H Horse, jersey,

Easy solution: make the crimes legal!

Prohibition never works. So make drugs legal and regulated.

Admit that copyright for digital formats doesn't work. (and shame on the writer for scaremongering over piracy!)

Devote police time to other matters.

Mark, Melbourne, Australia

"The criminals are better organized than the government; well
at least here in the US."

We're one step ahead of you: in the UK the government are the criminals.

One recent example: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/politics/article3724411.ece

Darren Howell, London,

At last this question is being asked - about time !!!!! I have often wondered myself why prevention of terrorism is the be and end all of gov't policy, whilst other crime areas are being totally ignored. To me the vandalisation of my local bus shelter is also a terrorist act within the community.

Ian Payne, WALSALL,

All criminal activity associated with the drug trade could be ended overnight by legalising it.

John, LONDON, ENGLAND

NuLab IS organized crime.

Cal, Boise,

Having a military wing in Afghanisan where 90% of the opium poppies are grown means the UK is in a prime position to use novel GM engineered weavels to decimate the opium trade. All it takes is vision and a bit of spunk from a cowardly administration.

kevin, Lincoln, UK

My view has been for many years that having over 40 constabularies is not effective. 40 HQs with all the duplication of purchasing etc. I believe it should be modernised.

8 regional forces :
Plus the Met Police
Central Training establishment
Manning and Purchasing centralised

wills, soton, uk

oh, i see what you are saying, you right, the serious organize crime need more attention from us,and they are not only limited in UK, but also the rest of the world. the best approach in my mind is to cut off their resource. like heroin planting, and pirated DVD manufacture

cty, zhejiang, china

The criminals are better organized than the government; well
at least here in the US.

John, Placentia, OC California

SOCA is NOT the equivalent of the FBI, it is a political police force directly under the control of the Home Office. The reason it has had its budget reduced is that it is failing to hit Home office targets for asset seizures. It should be freed from political control and left to get on with its job

Kevin, Workington, Cumbria

spot on. organised crime deserves every resource we can use against it. Legalise drugs to remove their financial incentive. Create work camps to deal with the incarceration of the huge amount of foot soldiers who will be convicted before the top guys are caught. Tackle people traffickers first!

M Henderson, edinburgh, uk

but how many terrorism plots have been given up by those terrorists because of the government's full attention on them? can you dare say that even if the government underplay the terrorism threaten, the death toll result from terrorism could still keep 0?

cty, zhejiang, china