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The fact that the ‘war on
drugs’ clearly isn’t working
has had little impact on
government policy.
HArdyAl dHindsA
‘There’s no differ ence
between addiction to
lawful or unlawful
substances – what makes
a criminal is the law.’
Arfon Jones
overwhelming indications of failure’, while the current legal framework is both
confusing for the public and fails to ‘correlate with evidence-based assessment of
relative drug harm’. Any review should also ‘consider all international experiences in
order to ascertain a more effective way forward’, it adds.
David Jamieson’s report from earlier this year, Reducing crime and preventing
harm, shares many recommendations with Hogg’s, such as diverting people from
the criminal justice system, but also proposes a move that could help win over
those elements of the press not traditionally receptive to drug policy reform –
taking money from organised criminals to help fund drug services. ‘Those profiting
from the misery of drug addiction should pay for treatment,’ it states.
Jamieson told the meeting that when his team had started to look at the
situation in their area some ‘killer facts’ had emerged – not only were there more
than 22,000 people using heroin or crack cocaine but ‘children are affected, social
services – the costs are enormous. Half of all burglary is to feed a habit, and the cost
on all public services five years ago was £1.4bn – just in the West Midlands. All the
shootings in my area are drug-related. It’s time to have a grown-up conversation
about drugs.’
The first step had been to draw up his report, he said, emphasising the links
between criminality and drug harm, and the cost to public finance, and making sure
it was a ‘workable and pragmatic’ policy document. ‘We want to put it into action,
and we’ve had enormous support – including from the media, as it talks about
saving costs to the public purse.’
The main reason that the drugs issue was one that had traditionally not been
led on was that it was simply seen as ‘too difficult’, Dhindsa told the group. The fact
that the ‘war on drugs’ clearly wasn’t working had had little impact on government
policy, he said, ‘but by joining up with different groups, we can make positive steps
in the right direction’.
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‘despite the good work
being done by many,
collectively our approach
to drugs is failing.’
dAvid JAmieson
‘We cannot continue with
prohibition, we’re just
putting millions of pounds
into the pockets of
organised crime.’
ron Hogg
The meeting also heard from a mother whose son had been lured into ‘county
lines’ activity by a drug gang, a growing trend that has seen a huge increase in the
number of modern slavery case referrals for minors (see news, page 4). This was
something that needed cross-departmental action, stressed Dhindsa. ‘The issue is
vulnerability – it’s easy income that then becomes something much worse.’
Arfon Jones told the meeting that while as a police officer he’d only been able to
make ‘a small dent in the criminal business model’, like other PCCs he was now in a
position to genuinely influence policy. ‘We need recognition that addiction is a disease
and not a crime,’ he said. ‘We need recognition that there’s no difference between
addiction to lawful or unlawful substances – what makes a criminal is the law.’
Prohibition did not work, he said, as was evidenced by the fact that towns and
cities were ‘swamped’ with new psychoactive substances (NPS) despite them having
now been illegal for almost two years (DDN, June 2016, page 4). Regulation could
not only help protect children, but help control the high potency levels found in the
vast majority of cannabis currently being sold (DDN, March, page 5), he argued.
‘We need to recognise the difference between use and misuse of drugs, and we
have a way to go to recognise how important harm reduction is – people will only go
into treatment when they’re ready.’ When it came to recreational use, however, money
was ‘better spent on those who have a problem’, he stressed. ‘Why do we punish and
criminalise people who cause no harm to others? These people need diverting into an
educational programme, in the same way as for a speed awareness course.’
‘I’m really passionate about changing this agenda,’ Hogg told the group, and
while his calls for a new approach had originally met with little support, that was
now changing. ‘It’s incumbent on those who have influence to change policies,’ he
said. ‘I can still see their faces – when I go to tell a mother, brother or sister that
someone has died. It’s human misery and tragedy, and it’s our duty to do something
about it.’ DDN
April 2018 | drinkanddrugsnews | 7