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West End Extra - FORUM: Opinion in the WEE
Published: 6 November 2009

Drugs – all tough talk and no science

There is little or no interest in scientific evidence from either the Labour or Conservative parties when it comes to tackling the problem, argues
Sebastian Saville

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I LIVE in Camden Town and walking home at night it is clear to see that alcohol is the drug causing the most harm.
People staggering around looking for confrontation, vomiting, urinating and discarding rubbish everywhere.
Young people binge drinking to a level that must be leading to all sorts of future health problems – not to mention the ones who end up in A&E from violent incidents.
Ironically, it actually seems difficult to walk more than a few paces without passing a shop, pub or bar where the drug causing this mayhem is readily and legally available.
Walking this route one also encounters wafts of cannabis smoke and clandestine offers to purchase.
However, in the 10 years I have lived in this area I have never noticed people under the influence of cannabis behaving in the unspeakable way of those fuelled up on alcohol.
Irrespective of anyone’s preferences or beliefs, the way society currently responds to the use of certain drugs has very little to do with the harm they cause.
This situation has been perfectly illustrated by the Home Secretary’s irrational sacking of Professor David Nutt for bringing some intelligence to the way we assess the risk and measure the harms associated with using different drugs.
Not wishing to be outdone on irrational behaviour, his Tory counterpart was quick in saying that the sacking should have happened earlier.
The past few days have been shocking in the way politicians have demonstrated that when it comes to drug policy there is little or no interest in scientific evidence from either the Labour or Tory parties.
Discussing possible new ways to deal with drug use in our society continues to be a no-go area for almost all politicians.
If only they were to stop for one minute and really consider their tired and feeble mantra of “getting tough” on drugs and no “mixed messages” to our young people.
In one final desperate move the Prime Minister has this week told us “we’ll get tougher on drugs”.
What does he mean?
At first I thought he was suggesting that if he and his colleagues all took some drugs they might get tougher. I expect I was wrong. Anyway, it won’t be long until a Tory says “we’ll get even tougher”.
In reality none of the leading politicians is prepared to make the really “tough” decisions that are desperately needed effectively to control and regulate drug use in our society.
Pretending to the public that more and more punitive measures are going to improve things is simply expedient and dishonest.
Alcohol or cannabis, whichever one believes is more or less harmful – can it be right, on the one hand to legally use sport, sex and music to increase alcohol sales to young people, but on the other to send people to jail for selling a joint?
There can’t be anyone who thinks these two drugs are that far apart.
Mixed messages?
Irrespective of what a handful of moral crusaders in the tabloid press might say, with a third of all adults in England and Wales having tried an illegal drug and an increasing sense that it is yet another issue with which politicians are completely out of touch, the public is surely now ready for drug policies based on health, science and compassion.
Maybe the Liberal Democrats will remember that it was them that ended illegal abortion when realising that a properly regulated system is always preferable to one left in the back alleys of life.
Judging by the reaction to the sacking of Professor Nutt there could well be millions of votes for a party that is brave enough to include an evidence-based drug policy in its manifesto.
Now that would be getting tough on drugs.
• Sebastian Saville is executive director of Release, the drugs, law and human rights charity

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