Legalise it: The case for a more relaxed approach to drugs

By Robert Peaty

Remember back to October last year. As one of his first acts as Home Secretary Alan Johnson fires government drug advisor David Nutt. His crime was disagreeing with government drug policy. He suggested it was hypocritical to reclassify Cannabis as a Class B drug whilst Alcohol and Tobacco, which he considered more harmful, remained legal. His dismissal was deeply unpopular particularly amongst younger voters and signalled a low point for Labour. Dr. Nutt was right to call for a rethink regarding drug policy. Taking the lead with a liberal attitude towards drugs is a good way of setting ourselves apart from the coalition stance on drugs and giving us a firm dividing line on which to fight the election.

Liberal Democrat policy on drugs is to make the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD) ‘completely independent of government’. They believe the focus should be dealers rather than the addicts. Nothing particularly innovative there then. The Conservative policy is to ban new legal drugs as they arise. The same failed policy of banning new drugs, which are swiftly replaced by new highs that are in turn banned, that Labour pursued for 13 years. Drugs are still everywhere you go and so is the crime that goes with it. It looks unlikely that the coalition will step up to the challenge of innovative drug policy. It is time that Labour did. It is the opportunity to offer the electorate something different to the failed policies of years gone by.

The standard argument is that legalisation would simply exacerbate drug related problems such as addiction and crime. However, this is not the case where a more relaxed approach to drugs has been taken. Personal possession of drugs was decriminalised in Portugal in 2001. In the five years that followed illegal drug use by teenagers declined, HIV infections among drug users dropped, overdose rates lowered, the amount of people seeking treatment has doubled and heroin related deaths have plummeted to less than half their previous level. This is the case Labour must present to the people if we advocate a legalisation policy. We must also present reassurances that the process will be gradual.

Many will argue that a policy of legalisation would be unsellable to the British public. Fans of “The Wire” will point to the fate of Major Colvin after he turns a blind eye to drug use and distribution in the ‘Hamsterdam’ district. The successful policy is scrapped and Colvin loses his prestigious police job, but British attitudes may be more liberal than those of the people of Baltimore. An ICM poll found that that 78% of Brits believe the ‘war on drugs is being lost’ and that 69% of us are open to the idea of government supplied drugs. A British Social Attitudes survey has found that 58% of people believe Cannabis should remain illegal, though this is hardly surprising considering the media hype over links to mental illnesses. It would be up to us to convince the public that legal drugs would be safer than those controlled by criminals and point to the safe fun had by many in Amsterdam. You might even argue that legal drugs would be good for our tourism industry.

In short, it is clear that current drug policy isn’t working. There is evidence to show that legalisation works. There is political capital from taking a stance not used by the other main parties. It’s time to be brave.