The War On Drugs

In Derry and the surrounding area, including, Tyrone in Northern Ireland and parts of County Donegal in the Republic, drugs are at the centre of an ongoing struggle between those who seek to make a profit on them and those who seek to eradicate them from society altogether (Republican Action Against Drugs: R.A.A.D).

An Evidence Based Approach

So how does one draw the line between drugs that should be prohibited and those permitted, between street dealers and corporate drug pushers (big pharma etc)? Is it a case of drugs deemed legal are fine and those illegal are prohibited? It is far from black and white, as showed by the pictures below the most destructive drug on the whole is Alcohol. The fact is, in line with what Sinead was saying, the ongoing cycle of violence, poverty, uncertainty, and desperation are what bias people towards destructive habits. Can the ‘war on drugs’ be won, or is it a case of decriminalisation and education?

Drug Harm Ranking (A)

Harm to others Vs Harm to users, caused by various drugs.

Drug Harm Ranking (B)

A detailed break down of the combined harms of each drug.

“The ‘War on Drugs’ has been an abject failure.”

“Prohibition is costing lives, as well as billions of pounds of taxpayers’ money. It has created a situation in which some of the most marginalised people in our society are committing crime to fund their addiction.  A fresh look at our drug laws is the first step towards a sane, evidence-based policy.”

“Addiction has to be approached primarily as a health issue, not a criminal justice issue. Emphasising punishment rather than treatment is expensive and counterproductive.”

“Our drug laws are over 40 years old We therefore have no idea whether current drug policy is an effective use of public money or whether money is simply being thrown down the drain.”

• An estimated £4.036 billion of the cost of drug-related crime is the criminal justice costs of arresting, prosecuting and imprisoning drug users.
• The remainder are ‘victim costs’ of crime It is estimated that fraud accounts for more than a third of Class A drug-related crime costs, totalling £4.888 billion.
• Burglary accounts for more than a quarter of the cost at £4.07 billion followed by robbery at £2.467 billion and shoplifting at £1.197 billion. The cost of drug-related arrests is £535 million.
• The research by the Government into the total economic and social costs of drug use failed to include the cost of the drug strategy itself, which according to the 2002 drug strategy was £1.344 billion in 2003/04. This budget was spent on prevention, enforcement of drugs laws and treatment.
• Therefore, the charitable think tank Transform estimates the total cost of Class A drug use (heroin and cocaine) under prohibition in England and Wales in 2003/04 was £16.785 billion.
• A 2013 study which evaluated the costs and benefits of introducing a licensed and regulated marijuana market in England and Wales concluded that the most plausible result of reforming marijuana’s legal status would be a net benefit of £100-£415 million and that, additionally, the tax intake would be £400-£900 million.
• Over half of the people in prison are thought to have serious drug problems.
• Rates of cannabis use by young people in Britain are amongst the highest in Europe.
• Across England and Wales, only around 7% of drug stop and searches end in arrest. As a result of almost 550,000 stop and searches for drugs in 2009/10, only 40,000 people were arrested, wasting police time and resources.

Decriminalisation

• The legal status of drugs has little effect on people’s decision to use them, as research by the Journal of Substance Use has shown.

• An investigation by the drug charity Release in 2012 looked at 21 jurisdictions that had adopted some form of decriminalisation of drug possession.  Overwhelmingly, the research showed that such an approach does not lead to an increase in drug use and that, by not criminalising those who use drugs, there were improved outcomes in terms of employment and relationships, reduced stigma, and people were less likely to enter or re-enter the criminal justice system, creating significant financial savings.

• The UN Office on Drugs and Crime admits that the war on drugs has had terrible ‘unintended’ consequences.

Make the production, sale and use of cannabis legal?

Questions are now being asked as why to why the government are delaying medical use of this medicinal herb, at very least, people should not be criminalised nor made to feel criminal for using it, especially to heal. Moreover, legalising cannabis could bring in £900m in taxes every year, save £400m on policing cannabis and create over 10,000 new jobs. A substance that is safer than alcohol, and has many uses. It is believed to have been used by humans for over 4000 years, being made illegal in the UK in 1925. In some parts of the world hemp was also seen as a competitor to the timber trade, hence it is argued that big logging corporations played a hand in influencing the criminalisation the hemp plant. The above videos by Thomas Szasa and Carl Hart suggest that the whole criminalisation causes more harm than good, is used as a platform to coerce poor communities, in particular, laws against crack and to some extent weed reflect racial inequality.