UN drug policy report

The Beckley Foundation http://www.beckleyfoundation.org/ has produced a report about drugs policy. Its research states that alcohol and tobacco drugs are the most harmful in terms of numbers badly affected and the affects on users and society. Then other illegal drugs and lastly cannabis. They’ve suggested that most of the harm from cannabis is criminalising people, that criminals produce cannabis that is very high strength and more likely to cause physchosis as so much is now grown indoors under continuous lighting.

They will be proposing to the United Nations Commission on Narcotic Drugs in Vienna during March about cannabis that “The damage done by prohibition is worse than from the substance itself”. Dynamite. They propose legalisation, taxation, controls in terms of adult use only and restricted strength. They don’t suggest its a healthy substance but that criminalising so many young people is more harmful than the ill effects it causes. Equally they point out roughly 80% of illegal drug use is of cannabis. That if cannabis use was legally controlled then crime enforcement could be concentrated on the 20% of ‘harder’ drugs. Imagine five times the resources targetted on heroin and cocaine crime.

Lambeth Police took a softly softly approach over cannabis which seemed to backfire as it attracted many people from outside Lambeth looking for drugs. That was bad news.

I don’t feel comfortable with this report and the challenges to my personal beliefs it presents. But the harm reported by keeping cannabis illegal feels compelling.

The Scientific evidence is such that the UK government should seriously investigate what would be best overall policy for fighting the harmful affects of drugs in the UK. Clearly the current ‘war on drugs’ feels lost and changing the game in some way is necessary.

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