‘ Freenon- violent drug use criminals’
CRIME: Non- violent criminals serving time for drug use or possession should be freed and personal use of recreational drugs decriminalised, experts say.
Decriminalisation should be followed by legalisation, regulation and restrictions on age, advertising and licensing, according to experts.
NON- VIOLENT CRIMINALS serving time for drug use or possession should be freed and personal use of recreational drugs decriminalised, experts say, arguing the war on drugs is fuelling racism.
Personal use of recreational drugs should be decriminalised immediately, followed by legalisation, regulation and restrictions on age, advertising and licensing, according to more than 60 international experts.
The group – including bioethicists, drug experts, criminal justice researchers and psychologists – say prohibition and criminalisation has been “costly and ineffective”, arguing that legalisation could lead to increased revenue from taxes, improvements to public health, reduced crime and lower poverty rates.
Their paper, Racial Justice Requires Ending the War on Drugs, analyses more than 150 reports and gives evidence that prohibition unfairly affects black communities.
They cite the case of Breonna Taylor, a black American medical worker who was killed when her home was entered by officers as part of a drug- related search.
Lead study authors Brian D Earp, from the University of Oxford, and Jonathan Lewis, from Dublin City University, said: “The ‘ war on drugs’ has racist roots and continues to disproportionately target people of colour.
“The first step is to decriminalise the personal use and possession of small amounts of all drugs currently deemed to be illicit, and to legalise and regulate cannabis,” they wrote.
The authors cited research into how drug prohibition affects users and communities and the impact of decriminalisation.
They said prohibition leads to unsafe drug use, resulting in a “multitude” of healthcare costs, while some users avoid treatment for fear of criminal charges.
Unregulated markets mean drugs can have unknown and inconsistent purity, further risking health, and vulnerable groups are exploited by gangs.
In the US, black people are more likely than white people to be arrested, prosecuted, convicted and jailed for drug offences, they said.
They also note that, in the UK in 2016/ 17, black people were almost nine times as likely as white people to be stopped and searched for drugs, and were also more likely to be arrested and prosecuted.
According to figures from the Office for National Statistics, drug- related deaths in England and Wales are at a record level, with 2019 seeing the highest number in more than a quarter of a century.
The authors recommended a combination of decriminalisation and harm reduction, as seen in Portugal, where drug- related deaths have fallen and users are encouraged to seek treatment.
Writing in the paper, they call for a “paradigm shift” in how drugs are viewed, saying decriminalisation “would not, on the whole, undermine public health or public safety”.
They write: “The bottom line, however, is that if and when problems with substance use or misuse arise, these should be approached through healthcare programmes and social support, not prison time.”
They said their paper is not an argument on the “prudence or permissibility” of recreational drug use, but a policy proposal that is “evidence- based and ethically recommended”.
Professor Adam Winstock, a consultant psychiatrist and founder of the Global Drug Survey, said: “The war on drugs adds to the marginalisation of the most vulnerable in society and compounds the disadvantages that people of colour face every day.”
The war on drugs adds to the marginalisation of the most vulnerable. Prof Adam Winstock, founder of the Global Drug Survey.