Comment Time for new front in a war humanity can’t win
ANUMBER of MPs are calling for drugs to be legalised or decriminalised. There was a time when politicians were largely united in demanding tough measures to stop people selling and using drugs.
The Labour government in 2004 experimented with reclassifying cannabis from a class B drug to class C, which meant anyone caught with it was likely to be warned or cautioned rather than prosecuted.
But this fell short of legalisation, and in any case was reversed in 2009.
Many MPs are now taking a more radical approach and made their views known in a recent Commons debate.
And some argued that the government and society generally have to be honest about the fact that people sometimes enjoy using illegal drugs – and don’t suffer any ill effects.
Others pointed out that alcohol and tobacco are among the most harmful drugs around but are perfectly legal and often not considered to be drugs at all.
Ruth George, Labour MP for High Peak, told the House of Commons: “An enormous part of the harm that is done by drugs is when people, particularly young people, do not know what it is that they are taking.
“If we are considering a harm prevention strategy, should we not be trying to ensure that we can protect people and help them to know what they are taking? Does that not include making drugs available legally so that we can test them and properly protect people?”
Conservative Crispin Blunt, MP for Reigate, said: “President Nixon declared a war on drugs in 1971.
“Nearly half a century later, I defy anyone to disagree that it has been a global public policy catastrophe. We desperately need a new approach and a completely different strategy.”
Referring to a new government announcement about plans to cut drug use, he said: “Although I welcome the emphasis that the government strategy puts on improving treatment and recovery for users, it also rehearses the same failed arguments for prohibition and criminalisation that have patently failed.”
And he added: “We have left the manufacture and supply in the hands of organised criminals and treated their victims – many of whom are vulnerable members of our society and many of whom have mental illnesses – as criminals, and they are unable or unwilling to seek medical help due to the illegality, exclusion and stigma.”
He did not call for an immediate change in the law but urged Ministers to set up a Royal Commission to consider what changes are needed.
Paul Flynn, Labour MP for Newport West, said: “It is not the drugs that are killing people – it is prohibition that is killing people.”
Jeff Smith, Labour MP for Manchester Withington, told Home Office Ministers: “The biggest missed opportunity in this strategy is the fact that we have not even considered decriminalisation or legalisation of some drugs as a solution to the problem.”
He pointed out that Portugal had decriminalised many drugs, which effectively means people won’t be prosecuted for using them, and told MPs: “Its drug-induced death rate is five times lower than the EU average.”
Mr Smith told MPs: “Talk of a society free of drugs is a dangerous fantasy.
“Humans have taken drugs for thousands of years and are not going to stop because the Home Secretary produces a new strategy.
“It is a dangerous fantasy because it diverts attention and resources from the real challenge, which is how we make drug taking safer, how we educate users, how we reduce the consumption of dangerous drugs, how we take control of the drug trade from the criminals who want to exploit vulnerable users, and how we stop criminalising thousands of people unnecessarily.”
Norman Lamb, Liberal Democrat MP for North Norfolk, suggested setting up “safe rooms” where people could take drugs legally.
He said: “No one dies of an overdose when they take their drugs in such safe rooms.
“Why are we not moving towards that? It is a disgrace, frankly, that we are not.”
Talk of a society free of drugs is a dangerous fantasy
Ronnie Cowan, the SNP MP for Inverclyde, said: “Prohibition is a discredited and deadly way of making drugs stronger and more dangerous while funding organised crime.”
“A growing body of well-informed people say that it is time to decriminalise and legalise drugs. These people are not lily-livered do-gooders or hippies left over from the 60s; they are ex and current law enforcement officers.”
There were other MPs who disagreed, including Home Office Minister Sarah Newton.
She told the debate: “I accept that some Members and some people in our country think that we should decriminalise drugs. I do not agree because we are evidence-based policy makers and all the evidence shows the awful harms caused by the drugs that we ban and restrict. Our primary job is to keep people safe, and the way to do that is to prevent them from taking drugs in the first place.”