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UK: Only option now is to legalise
Cambridge Evening News, UK
Monday 27 Mar 2006 SIX years ago, Fulton Gillespie's son Scott died from an accidental heroin overdose at the age of 33 - tests revealed the substance he had taken was toxic. Now Mr Gillespie, a former health correspondent on the News, explains why he is backing former Cambridgeshire Chief Constable Tom Lloyd in his calls for a radical new approach to tackling drugs to be investigated. He said: "I agree with what Mr Lloyd is saying, and it's very important that such basic, common sense - the fact we need to take control of this issue back from criminals - is openly discussed. "It has resonance when a former Chief Constable makes the point. "Others have said it too - Mo Mowlam, before she died, was an advocate of legalising drugs. "You wouldn't trust criminals to be in control of your tap water, something as benign as that, so why do we allow them to control something as dangerous as drugs? "It is extremely problematic from a political point of view because no-one's going to get elected on the back of legalising drugs. "People think legalisation is the same as offering approval, but that's a confusion of the facts. "When the US banned alcohol during the years of prohibition, what happened? Al Capone took over and people were going blind or dying because they had been drinking alcohol that was basically poison. "It's the same with drugs today (Monday, 27 March). Most young people who die from a drug overdose are dying because the drugs are cut with toxic substances. "Heroin, unlike alcohol and tobacco which are both legal, does not damage any organs in your body - that's not my opinion, that's absolute fact. "It can cause problems related to respiratory illness and is certainly addictive, but so are alcohol and tobacco to a lot of people, and they are sold in every corner shop in the country. "It's all the muck that's put into it that kills people. "I have read all the evidence and listened to all the experts and they all shy away from the bottom line, which is you cannot do anything unless you are in control." Mr Gillespie, from Burwell, said Britain has not been able to deal with the drugs problem since the Misuse of Drugs Act came into force in 1971. He said: "I'm 67 years old, nearly 68, and I don't remember drugs at all until I was 30 - they just weren't around. "The great myth is that, if we legalise drugs, suddenly everyone's going to be on them. I have never heard anything so ridiculous. "There are already more drug pushers on the streets of Britain than there are chemist shops. If young people want to do drugs they will and we won't be able to stop them. At least if we're in control we know what they're getting into. "The only option I can see is to legalise drugs - not decriminalise them - which would leave the offences on statute, but take them out of the criminal arena altogether. "The use of drugs has to be seen as a public health matter, not a criminal matter."
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