This generation should make the case for decriminalising “controlled” drugs

By Kevin Bovania

Britain’s policy on controlling drug use has hardly changed in nearly 40 years. The Misuse of Drugs Act 1971 classifies a hierarchy of harmful substances as “controlled drugs” with varying criminal penalties for possession and dealing. If its aim was to reduce damage to health and drug-related crime, then it has been a clear failure on both counts.

Yet any attempt to amend the policy has been crushed by a reaction of ill-informed scaremongering. The Government’s recent decision to downgrade the classification of cannabis to a Class C drug did not last very long, despite the medical advice of its own specialists in the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs.

If this is what happens with policy tinkering, what does it take for real boldness: the decriminalisation of the possession of all controlled drugs? It is time for our generation to make the case.

There are those who accept that the current law is unenforceable, but worry that the message implied by decriminalisation is that drugs are not so harmful after all and that both drug use and drug related crime will get worse.

But we are not treading into the unknown with decriminalisation. The Netherlands is often cited as an example of having a liberal drug policy, which acts as a magnet for “drug tourism”. In fact, the Netherlands hasn’t decriminalised possession of drugs; it has relaxed law enforcement. A more striking example is Portugal, which decriminalised possession of all drugs back in 2001.

A recent report by the Beckley Foundation (a UK NGO specialising in the study of drug use) noted real improvements in Portugal, not least a significant fall in heroin use and a fall in the number of drug-related deaths.

The success so far in Portugal cannot be solely attributed in removing criminal penalties for possession. Individuals possessing certain drugs are referred to panels of health and social professionals who assess and treat them for any health and social problems, if they exist.

As a result, the wasting of valuable resources of the police, courts and prisons in punishing possession is replaced by the more effective approach of treating each case with the seriousness it deserves within its own context. Those who do not have a serious problem should be given guidance, while at the other end, people needing serious treatment should be removed from certain public areas (particularly those where children are likely to be) until their condition is safe enough.

Of course, decriminalisation will not effectively end drug use, but it will give us a truer picture of its extent. Nor will decriminalisation in Britain alone make a serious inroad into international drug related crimes and wars, but it can begin to persuade other nations that there is a real alternative to the costly disaster of the so-called “war on drugs”.

That current “war” has failed to control the damage that “controlled drugs” cause. As Portugal and elsewhere have shown, a new policy of decriminalisation need not come without controls. The tough approach will not be in punishing for possession, but in requiring individuals with real problems to get rehabilitation. The rewards will come not just for drug-users, but also for the people around them, so justifying any necessary increase in resources.

Forty years of the current anti-drug policy has done little to change the quality of life in many of our most disadvantaged communities which are blighted by drug-related crime. They deserve a new anti-drug policy, and it needs to include decriminalisation with rehabilitation.

Kevin Bovania is Labour PPC for Rochford & Southend East.