Russell Brand: Addiction is an illness not a crime
Addiction should be treated as a health problem rather than a criminal matter, comedian Russell Brand has told a committee of MPs.
The 36-year-old former heroin addict described addiction as an "illness" and said that those suffering from it should be treated with "compassion".
He advocated an "abstinence-based recovery" approach, telling MPs this was how he overcame his addiction to drugs, which he said was caused by emotional, psychological and spiritual difficulties.
He said he thought the money spent on arresting drug addicts would be better spent on treating them, as he gave evidence to the Home Affairs Committee on 24 April 2012, as part of its inquiry into drugs policy.
Mr Brand spoke alongside Chip Somers, chief executive of drug rehab charity Focus 12, which runs an abstinence-based rehabilitation programme; the celebrity became a patron of the charity in 2005 after seeking help for his drugs problem there.
Mr Somers said abstinence was an "admirable aim" for everybody, arguing that "parking" people on methodone - used to wean people off drugs - was not effective as it "locked" them in addiction.
Mr Somers also called for "more honest" information on drugs in schools.
"If you don't give them the good and bad of drug use they won't listen to you because there are children in schools smoking cannabis who aren't dropping dead," he said.
Later on, the committee heard from three opponents of the decriminalisation of drug use: Mary Brett, Kathy Gyngell and Daily Mail columnist Peter Hitchens.
