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Thursday Apr 19, 2007
Are they on drugs? (Or am I?)
A new report published yesterday has poured scorn on all aspects of government drugs policy.
On drugs education:
"There is little international or UK evidence to suggest that drug education and prevention have had any significant impact on drug use. The international literature consistently indicates that most school-based prevention efforts do little to reduce initiation. Even those programmes that are delivered effectively seem to have very little impact on future drug use."
On tougher enforcement:
"The courts handed out nearly three times as much prison time in 2004 as they did 10 years earlier...[and yet the] prices of the principal drugs in Britain have declined for most of the last ten years and there is no indication that tougher enforcement has succeeded in making drugs less accessible."
In conclusion:
"There is little evidence from the UK, or any other country, that drug policy influences either the number of drug users or the share of users who are dependent. There are numerous other cultural and social factors that appear to be more important. It is notable that two European countries that are often used as contrasting examples of tough or liberal drug policies, Sweden and the Netherlands, both have lower rates of overall and problematic drug use than the UK."
In other words, not only have the specifics of drug policy failed, the whole idea of a drugs policy is flawed. And who do you think came up with this damning conclusions? Why, the newly formed UK Drug Policy Commission, of course - the quotes above are from the summary of their launch report (pdf).
While it's difficult to challenge any of their conclusions it does seem hard to see where it leaves them. A Drug Policy Commission that is sceptical about the very idea of drug policies? Maybe this is just the kind of inspired logic required to get to grips with an apparently intractable problem. Or maybe someone put something in my tea.
Posted by Tom Green ( 9:23 AM ) Link to this post Comments[0]