UK - Experts urge illegal drugs rethink

[poledriver]

UK - Experts urge illegal drugs rethink

Using illegal drugs is like gambling or eating junk food and there needs to be a wholesale review of the Government's approach, the independent body that analyses drug laws has said.

There are "some moderately selfish or risky behaviours that free societies accept will occur and seek to limit", the final report of the UK Drug Policy Commission (UKDPC) said.

Its six-year study found much of the £3 billion the UK spends annually on tackling illicit drugs is not based on evidence and, until Government pursues policies based on what works, it will continue to waste public money and damage lives.

Calling for a "wholesale review" of drugs laws and the classification system, it said possession of small amounts of drugs for personal use should be made a civil offence instead of a criminal offence.


Some 42,000 people in England and Wales are sentenced each year for the possession of drugs, with about 160,000 people given cannabis warnings, the report added.

For cannabis, there was also "an argument that amending the law relating to the growing of it, at least for personal use, might go some way to undermining the commercialisation of production", the UKDPC said.

The commission called for Parliament "to revisit the level of penalties applied to all drug offences and particularly those concerned with production and supply", but stopped short of calling for the decriminalisation or legalisation of most drugs.

A new approach was also needed because the rapid creation of new drugs was changing the market too quickly for the traditional methods used to control it. "Seeing all drug use as invariably problematic can reduce the cost-effectiveness of policy," the commission said.

"Just like with gambling or eating junk food, there are some moderately selfish or risky behaviours that free societies accept will occur and seek to limit to the least damaging manifestations, rather than to prevent entirely. Taking drugs does not always cause problems, but this is rarely acknowledged by policy makers."

A Home Office spokeswoman said: "While the Government welcomes the UKDPC's contribution to the drugs debate we remain confident that our ambitious approach to tackling drugs - outlined in our Drugs Strategy - is the right one. Drug usage is at it lowest level since records began. Drug treatment completions are increasing and individuals are now significantly better placed to achieve recovery and live their lives free from drugs."

http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/u...ts-urge-illegal-drugs-rethink-91466-32033010/

 

[edgarshade]

"Just like with gambling or eating junk food, there are some moderately selfish or risky behaviours that free societies accept will occur and seek to limit to the least damaging manifestations, rather than to prevent entirely. Taking drugs does not always cause problems, but this is rarely acknowledged by policy makers."

Quite right too! Prohibition is a perverse and immature way of managing risk to the self and society.

Article on BBC news also

Possessing small amount of drugs 'should not be crime'

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-19942378

A Home Office spokeswoman said: "While the government welcomes the UKDPC's contribution to the drugs debate, we remain confident that our ambitious approach to tackling drugs - outlined in our drugs strategy - is the right one.

"Drug usage is at it lowest level since records began. Drug treatment completions are increasing and individuals are now significantly better placed to achieve recovery and live their lives free from drugs.

This is probably why we are seeing surveys showing drug use declining. It is now in the govs interest to show that prohibition is working rather than showing how bad everything is as they did previously.

In other publications:
Telegraph:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ukn...ug-users-should-not-get-criminal-records.html
With interesting reader poll showing 83% (at 8:15AM BST) in favour.

Daily Mail.

Using illegal drugs 'is like eating junk food or gambling': Row as charity calls for a softer line on cannabis

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/a...g-Row-charity-calls-softer-line-cannabis.html

 

[Foreigner]

I like the earnestness of the report... economics can be so coldly honest sometimes. Unfortunately, logic does not make the world go 'round when it comes to drug laws. It's mostly conservative power - and old power at that - which tends to reinforce these kinds of laws. Also, depending on the drug, the pharmaceutical industry has a lot to do with it too. Ironic though that this same conservative power has had no problem using things like opium to enslave foreign nations in the past.

Drug criminalization is also a vehicle to control populations. Drug searches and detainments give law enforcement unprecedented power over society.

 

[Portillo]

"Just like with gambling or eating junk food, there are some moderately selfish or risky behaviours that free societies accept will occur and seek to limit to the least damaging manifestations, rather than to prevent entirely. Taking drugs does not always cause problems, but this is rarely acknowledged by policy makers."

Too much logic in that unfortunately. Only when society gets over the stigma thats attached to illegal drug use, will decriminalisation happen.

 

[ro4eva]

poledriver I'm not trying to bust your balls, but I wonder how many of these bloody articles about experts, perverts, scientists, actors, republicans and so forth requesting drug policy reforms will it take before we see some solid progress? Going from first base to second per say. It's a rhetorical question, don't mind me, peace out.

 

[poledriver]

lol hehehe experts and perverts...

 

[poledriver]

Decriminalise drug use, say UK experts after 6-year study

LONDON - A six-year study of Britain's drug laws by leading scientists, police officers, academics and experts has concluded it is time to introduce decriminalisation.

The report by the United Kingdoms Drug Policy Commission (UKDPC), an independent advisory body, says possession of small amounts of controlled drugs should no longer be a criminal offence and concludes the move will not lead to a significant increase in use.

The experts say the criminal sanctions imposed on the 42,000 people in the UK sentenced each year for possession of all drugs - and the 160,000 given cannabis warnings - should be replaced with simple civil penalties such as a fine, attendance at a drug awareness session or a referral to a drug treatment programme.

They also say that imposing minimal or no sanctions on those growing cannabis for personal use could go some way to undermining the burgeoning illicit cannabis factories controlled by organised crime.

But their report rejects any more radical move to legalisation, saying that allowing the legal sale of drugs such as heroin or cocaine could cause more damage than the existing drugs trade.

The commission is chaired by Dame Ruth Runciman with a membership that includes the former head of the British Medical Research Council, Prof Colin Blakemore, and the former chief inspector of constabulary, Mr David Blakey.

The report says their analysis of the evidence shows that existing drugs policies struggle to make an impact and, in some cases, may make the problem worse.

The work of the commission is the first major independent report on drugs policy since the influential Police Foundation report 12 years ago called for an end to the jailing of those possessing cannabis.

The UKDPC's membership also includes Prof John Strang, head of the National Addictions Centre, Prof Alan Maynard, a specialist in health economics, and Lady Ilora Finlay, a past president of the Royal Society of Medicine.

The report says that although levels of illicit drug use in Britain have declined in recent years, they are still much higher than in many other countries. The UK has 2,000 drug-related deaths each year and more than 380,000 problem drug users.

The 173-page report concludes: "Taking drugs does not always cause problems, but this is rarely acknowledged by policymakers. In fact most users do not experience significant problems, and there is some evidence that drug use can have benefits in some circumstances."

The commission's radical critique says the current UK approach is simplistic in seeing all drug use as problematic, fails to recognise that entrenched drug problems are linked to inequality and social exclusion, and that separating drugs from alcohol and tobacco use makes it more difficult to tackle the full range of an individual's substance use.

It says the £3 billion (S$5.9 billion) a year spent tackling illegal drugs is not based on any evidence of what works, with much of the money wasted on policies that are not cost-effective.

It argues that even large-scale seizures by the police often have little or no sustained impact on the supply of drugs; that Just Say No campaigns in schools sometimes actually lead to more young people using drugs; and that pushing some users to become abstinent too quickly can lead to a greater chance of relapse or overdose and death.

The commission argues a fresh approach based on the available evidence should be tested. Its main proposals include, changing drug laws so that possession of small amounts of drugs for personal use would be a civil rather than criminal offence, reviewing sentencing practice so that those caught growing below a specified low volume of cannabis plants faced no, or only minimal, sanctions; and reviewing the level of penalties applied against those involved in production and supply, as there is little evidence to show that the clear upward drift in the length of prison sentences in recent years has proved a deterrent or had any long-term impact on drug supply in Britain.

Prof Blakemore said: "Medicine has moved past the age when we treated disease on the basis of hunches and received wisdom. The overwhelming consensus now is that it is unethical, inefficient and dangerous to use untested and unvalidated methods of treatment and prevention. It is time that policy on illicit drug use starts taking evidence seriously as well."

Mr Blakey, who is also a former president of the Association of Chief Police Officers (Acpo), said the current approach of police taking action against people using drugs was expensive and did not appear to bring much benefit. "When other countries have reduced sanctions for low-level drug users, they have found it possible to keep a lid on drug use while helping people with drug problems to get into treatment," the former chief constable said. "But at the same time, we need to continue to bear down on those producing and supplying illicit drugs. This is particularly important for those spreading misery in local communities."

Dame Runciman said government programmes had done much to reduce the damage caused by the drug problem over the past 30 years, with needle exchanges reducing HIV among injecting drug users and treatment programmes which had helped many to rebuild their lives. The commission's chair said: "Those programmes are supported by evidence, but much of the rest of drug policy does not have an adequate evidence base. We spend billions of pounds every year without being sure of what difference much of it makes."

The home secretary, Mrs Theresa May, last month ruled out any moves towards decriminalisation, saying it would lead to further problems.

She told MPs she considered cannabis a gateway drug: "People can die as a result of taking drugs, and significant mental health problems can arise as a result of taking drugs."

http://www.todayonline.com/World/ED...e-drug-use,-say-UK-experts-after-6-year-study

 

[Clocktower]

People can die as a result of driving cars, and significant mental health problems can arise as a result of auto accidents. This is not an adequate argument for prohibition.

 

[edgarshade]

Here is the actual UKDPC report. The PDF can be downloaded from their web page...

http://www.ukdpc.org.uk/publication/a-fresh-approach/

 

[Portillo]

poledriver I'm not trying to bust your balls, but I wonder how many of these bloody articles about experts, perverts, scientists, actors, republicans and so forth requesting drug policy reforms will it take before we see some solid progress?

Yeah alot of South American countries keep saying they will legalise marijuana, cocaine etc. But I really hope they actually do it. We need a different approach to handling drug use.

 

[Flynnal]

They need to do the same thing to drug laws that they did to abortion laws, homosexuality laws, etc. End of discussion as far as I'm concerned. I won't bother going into detail as to what drugs cause what harm because frankly all drugs cause some harm to varying degrees, as do foods, ie junk food and alcohol, cigarettes and even household chemicals.

CAVEAT EMPTOR. YOUR CHOICE. End of discussion.

 

[Hear Me Roar]

David Cameron doesn't care about science. Won't be any rethink while he's the prime-minister. He dismisses whatever suits him and his party. Prick.