Ministers urged to end the ‘failed war on drugs’
MINISTERS have been warned that “more and more innocent people will die” unless the UK’s policy towards illegal drugs is radically altered.
SNP frontbencher Ronnie Cowan made the comment after telling MPs that the “war on drugs” had been lost and that the Government should now focus on “winning the peace”.
Mr Cowan, speaking in a Westminster Hall debate, recommended a number of policies including the introduction of drug consumption rooms, greater investment in earlier intervention and a shift in the treatment of addicts from a criminal issue to a public health issue.
The Inverclyde MP also likened the current approach to Prohibition in the US and argued it would be better to “regulate the market place and take away controls from the criminals”.
He said: “The damage inflicted on people and communities shall continue to increase if all we do is crack down on the criminal fraternity and those ensnared in problematic drug use.
“We can lock people up for longer, it does not improve the situation one iota, in fact it makes it worse.”
“We have lost the war on drugs, our own drugs policy saw to that. We need to change our mindset and we need to ensure we’re in the position to win the peace”, he said.
Labour MP Grahame Morris (Easington) later added: “The tide is turning in terms of the willingness of people to look at the evidence, whatever preconceived ideas you have and I must admit I am a convert, I’ve come to this having looked at the evidence and realised that what we were doing for the last 50 years isn’t working.”
He added: “What I’m looking for is for the minister and the Home Office to empower and resource police and crime commissioners and allow them to take some progressive actions and interventions such as, perhaps in pilot areas where there is support for such an initiative, medically supervised consumption rooms to treat addicts.
“Treating drugs as a health issue rather than a criminal justice matter will strangle the illegal market and take power away from the dealers.”
Home Office minister Victoria Atkins, responding to the debate on behalf of the Government, had to recuse herself from addressing points about cannabis made by MPs due to her husband’s “business interests”.
Ms Atkins’ husband, Paul Kenward, is the managing director of British Sugar, licensed to grow nonpsychoactive cannabis.
She said: “This Government recognises the serious harm that drugs cause, not just to individual users but to their families, children and their local communities.”
“Drugs costs more than £10 billion a year to our society, over half of which is attributed to drug related acquisitive crime, such as burglary, robbery and shoplifting, we remain ambitious and committed in addressing these problems”, she said.
She added: “Our policy on drugs is anchored on education to reduce demand, tough and intelligent enforcement to restrict supply, evidence based treatment to aid recovery and coordinated global action.”