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Cannabis Campaigners' Guide News Database result:
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UK: MPs move away from retribution
Alan Travis The Guardian
Wednesday 22 May 2002 The demand for a major reform of Britain's drug laws from the Commons home affairs committee rests on the MPs' belief that education and harm reduction are more effective ways of dealing with drug users than retribution and criminal sanctions. Its year long inquiry into the government's drug policy concludes that "if there is any single lesson from the experience of the last 30 years, it is that policies based wholly or mainly on enforcement are destined to fail". The report says that police and customs have made little impact on the problem and street prices are as low as ever. "The best that can be said is that we have succeeded in containing the problem." The MPs also conclude that however much advice they are offered many young people will continue to use drugs. "In most cases this is a passing phase which they will grow out of and, while such use should never be condoned, it rarely results in any long term harm. It therefore makes sense to give priority to educating such young people in harm minimisation rather than prosecuting them." The committee declined to support the legalisation of certain drugs but acknowledged it was an argument advocated by "many sensible and thoughtful people" and that "it may well be that in years to come a future generation will take a different view". Cannabis The MPs back home secretary David Blunkett's proposal to reclassify cannabis from class B to class C. They say that cannabis can be harmful, its use should be discouraged and it can prove a gateway to more dangerous drugs. But they believe that exaggerating its harmfulness undermines the credibility of warnings about more harmful drugs. Reclassification would mean police losing the power of arrest for possession, leaving them free to concentrate on more harmful drugs. Ecstasy Ecstasy should be reclassified from class A (the most dangerous) to class B (the current status of cannabis), say the MPs. Cocaine A 50% fall in the price of cocaine since 1994 has led to a rapid rise in its use by teenage men, says the committee. It should stay a class A drug but the number of treatment places needs to be substantially increased. The MPs say there can be no compromise over crack cocaine use because it can trigger violent behaviour. Heroin The number of problem heroin users has reached 200,000 compared with 1,000 a generation ago. The MPs say the focus should be on these addicts whose habits cause most damage to themselves and others. They recommend a trial programme of supervised heroin prescription to addicts similar to those in Holland and Switzerland. They back an immediate pilot pro gramme of safe-injecting houses to get chronic heroin users off the streets and into a more orderly environment. This would involve changing the law to allow drug agencies to work with users and pharmacists to supply drug users with paraphernalia that reduce risk, such as swabs, citric acid and needles. The MPs also want to see better training of doctors to deal with drug misuse. Dealing The report recommends the creation of a new offence of "supply for gain" in order that the distinction between so-called social supply or "low level dealing amongst friends" and large-scale commercial supply is reflected in the penalties available to the courts. The MPs reject the suggestion by the Police Foundation inquiry that "social supply" should be decriminalised. They say they were not persuaded that offences of intent to supply should be linked to the amount of drugs found. They conclude that the offences of simple pos session and possession with intent to supply should be kept. Legalisation The MPs acknowledge that "there may come a day when the balance may tip in favour of legalising and regulating some types of presently illegal drugs" but say that the time for "that drastic step" has not yet come. However, they say that the legalisation of some or all drugs could not be pursued unilaterally without breaking several international treaties. The government should initiate a United Nations commission debate on the possibility of legalisation and regulation of drugs, they say. But they add that to decriminalise possession for personal use would send the wrong message to the majority of young people and would inevitably lead to an increase in drug abuse. Education The MPs say they are concerned about the quality of drug education material. They say it should clearly be based on the idea that any drug use can be harmful and should be discouraged. They endorse the use of shock videos such as that including photographs of the body of Rachel Whitear, who died of a heroin overdose. "We do not share the view that confronting young people with shocking images of the harm caused by some drug use is counter productive." National strategy The four targets set by the government to reduce the use and supply of class A drugs and drug-related crime, and to increase participation in drug treatment programmes are severely criticised. "We believe it is unwise, not to say self-defeating, to set targets which have no earthly chance of success." Instead measurable targets with proper baselines should be established.
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