Up in smoke: alternatives to the war on drugs
Stephen Rolles- Senior Policy Analyst, Transform Drug Policy Foundation
Steve is Senior Policy Analyst for Transform Drug Policy Foundation, a UK based drug policy think tank and registered charity working in the field of drug policy and law reform. As well as publications in journals, periodicals and book chapters, Steve has been lead author on a range of Transform publications including 2009’ s‘ After the War on Drugs: Blueprint for Regulation’.
http:// www. tdpf. org. uk / Twitter- @ SteveRolles
There is a growing consensus that the prohibition on production, supply, and use of certain drugs has not only failed to deliver its intended goals but has been actively counterproductive. Evidence is mounting that current policy approaches have not only exacerbated many public health problems, such as adulterated drugs 8 and the spread of HIV and hepatitis B and C infection among injecting drug users, but has created a much larger set of secondary harms associated with the criminal market. These include the vast networks of organised crime, endemic violence related to the drug market 9, corruption of law enforcement and governments, militarised crop eradication programmes( environmental damage, food insecurity, and human displacement), and funding for terrorism and insurgency 1011.
' Prohibition on production, supply, and use of certain drugs has been actively counterproductive '
This broad conclusions has been reached by a succession of committees and reports including, in the UK alone, the Police Foundation 12, the Home Affairs Select Committee 13( in 2001, and again in 2012), the Prime Minister’ s Strategy Unit 14, the Royal Society of Arts 15, and the UK Drug Policy Consortium 16. Even The United Nations Office of Drugs and Crime 17 has also acknowledged the
8
Cole C, Jones L, McVeigh J, Kicman A, Qutub Syed Q, Bellis M. A guide to the adulterants, bulking agents and other contaminants found in
illicit drugs. Centre for Public Health, John Moores University, 2010 9
Werb D, Rowell G, Kerr T, Guyatt G, Montaner J, Wood E. Effect of drug law enforcement on drug-related violence: evidence from a scientific review.
International Centre for Science in Drug Policy, 2010 10
Felbab-Brown V. Shooting up: counter-insurgency and the war on drugs. Brookings Institution Press, 2009
11 Barrett D, Lines L, Schleifer R, Elliot R, Bewley-Taylor D. Recalibrating the regime. Beckley Foundation. International Harm Reduction Association, 2008
12 Police Foundation. Drugs and the law: report of the independent inquiry into the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971. Police Foundation, 1999
13 Home Affairs Select Committee. The government’ s drugs policy: is it working? Stationery Office, 2002, Breaking the Cycle 2012
14 Prime Minister’ s Strategy Unit. Strategy Unit drugs report. 2003. www. cabinetoffice. gov. uk / media / cabinetoffice / strategy / assets / drugs _ report. pdf
15 Royal Society of Arts Commission on Illegal Drugs, Communities and Public Policy. Drugs— facing facts. RSA, 2007
16 An analysis of UK drug policy. 2007. A Fresh Approach to Drugs: the final report of the UK Drug Policy Commission, 2012 UK Drug Policy Commission
17 2008 World drug Report. UN Office on Drugs and Crime, 2008 revolutionise. it 45