Analysis: Why the Tsar Was Deposed in Favour of a New Policy to Crack Rising Drug Use ; Performance Targets to Reduce Cocaine and Heroin Use Are Ripped Up as Government Aims to Increase Seizures and End Afghan Production

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IT WAS a glittering occasion more usually associated with a film premiere than the launch of a new piece of government policy. In April 1998, after less than a year in power, Labour ministers hired the theatre of the Trocadero Centre, near Leicester Square, to tell the world of their plans for "tackling drugs to build a better Britain".

Keith Hellawell, the newly appointed drugs tsar, took to the rostrum to outline a 10-year strategy to "stifle the availability" of drugs and enable young people and former drug users to live "healthy and crime-free lives".

The showbiz atmosphere and the spectacular nature of the claims provoked a sceptical response from many of …