Drug prohibition has been in place for over 100 years now – based on the simplistic concept that drugs are a threat therefore we must fight them. But for a policy that has the very specific aim of creating a “drug free” society, criminalising drug production, supply, possession and use has been a remarkable failure. Use has risen, drugs have become cheaper and more available, and illicit production has easily met the growing demand. Worse still, this fantastically expensive approach has delivered a series of catastrophic consequences associated with the international trade controlled by criminals.
This illicit trade – now turning over in the region of £320billion each year, around £6billion a year in the UK alone – is the inevitable result of prohibiting goods for which there is huge and growing demand. Enforcement inflates prices in a way that makes the trade more attractive to new players, more violent, and drives some addicts to commit huge amounts of theft to support habits. The “war on drugs” is supposed to protect public health but has done the exact opposite.
What my experiences as a drugs counsellor and drugs awareness trainer for organisations including for the crime reduction charity NACRO have convinced me is it isn’t even a war on drugs – it’s a war on people who produce, supply and use the wrong drugs.
