From left.former Government drugs adviser Dr Polly Taylor, former headteacher at The Leys School Dr John Barrett and former chief constable of Cambridgeshire Police Tom Lloyd.
Could the NHS fix our drug problem?
Charlotte Orson
Sunday, February 5, 2012
2:00 PM
The former chief constable of Cambridgeshire Police has said a sea change is needed before the Government will alter its strategy of criminalising drug addicts.
Tom Lloyd, now a consultant for the International Drug Policy Consortium, told a Rotary Club of Cambridge guest evening at the University Arms Hotel in Cambridge that although Government Ministers have said to him, off the record, it would make sense to decriminalise drug use, they were afraid of a media backlash.
Mr Lloyd, who lives in Cambridge, endorsed Virgin tycoon Sir Richard Branson’s high-profile comments last week - panned by Daily Mail columnists – that the Government should move problem drug use, such as heroin and crack cocaine, to being an NHS issue and not a Home Office problem.
The Home Office could then concentrate on targeting the drugs barons who largely go unpunished.
Mr Lloyd said: “Richard Branson is right in my view and the police should not be spending time and resources over what is termed ‘the lower end’.
“The health service should take the lead and take the issue away from the Home Office. It sets a different environment and approach and the police should set objectives which have a positive impact.
“The police are currently judged on the inappropriate measures of arrests made and tonnes of drugs seized.
“I would like to see them move towards objectives such as reductions in the number of people with hepatitis C and HIV, and reducing drug-related deaths and crime.”
Naomi, 24, is a recovering heroin addict living in Cambridge, and started injecting heroin at 18 when she attended a methadone clinic. She previously was just smoking the class A drug.
“The only way to help drug users is give them lots of support,” she told guests at the Rotary event on Tuesday.
MP for Cambridge Julian Huppert sits on the Government select committee which is currently reviewing drug policy and is confident that more people are supporting his view that drugs should be decriminalised.
He told Cambridge First: “Public opinion has changed. Many people agree that the current policy is not working. We spend more than any other country in Europe on drug prevention and yet we have one of the highest levels of drug use.
“That is why we have set up the inquiry into drugs policy, to collect all the evidence and present it to the Government to drive that change. I believe the mood and the time is right to come up with a policy based on scientific evidence so that we can stop fuelling the demand for drugs from Latin America and address what is happening in the UK today.”
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It seems to me that the real motives why politicians are afraid of engaging seriously with the legalisation issue, not just of marijuana, but of drugs in general, go well, well beyond their concerns about the reaction of their constituencies, potential voters or in this case, the press. Surely, there are politicians for whom that may be a real concern, but for the vast majority, voters’ judgement and press hounding is just a convenient smokescreen. If potential and effective voters, constituents and the general public were that informed, consistent and unforgiving, then all those politicians who at some time or another have denounced Prohibition and the War on Drugs, should have severely been punished, politically speaking, for harbouring such opinions. It would not be difficult to find examples of politicians who have been elected or re-elected despite going against the so-called “public opinion” — another amorphous concept politicians rush to hide behind to avoid the issue. Let’s just consider these two. How do you explain that Mr. Cameron or Mr. Obama were able to get elected despite having expressed their opposition to Prohibition and the War on Drugs policies and having admitted using drugs? Perhaps more revealing is the fact that they changed their tune once they arrived to 10 Downing Street and the White House. On the other hand, do we really believe that the press, in particular the tabloids, do represent the opinion of the majority in this country? According to The Sun and The Daily Mail polls, about 70% of those taking part in the polls agreed to some sort of legalisation. You can read the polls here: http:www.thesun.co.uksolhomepagemysun3334712SunVoters-split-on-legal-highs.html http:www.dailymail.co.uknewsarticle-1339115Bob-Ainsworth-criticised-irresponsible-declaring–Decriminalise-ALL-drugs.html Mind you, they probably are not significant (in the statistical sense of the term) but they suggest that the tabloids (or at least, some of them) do not even reflect the opinion of the majority of their readership…let alone the majority of this country. But let’s assume for sake’s argument that they do. Well, that does not mean that they are right. Moreover, the fact that millions of people agree on something does not make it a valid, let alone a respectable, argument. There are millions of people who, despite the piles and piles of evidence to the contrary, still believe that the bible is an accurate account of how the universe came into being. The fact that they believe so DOES NOT make it a valid counter-argument to the way cosmology try to explain the origins of the universe, evolution try to explain the origins of life or geology try to explain how the Earth was formed. Call me naïve, but those politicians who refuse not only to acknowledge the perverse effects of Prohibition and the so-called War on Drugs, but also refuse to take a more active role in seeking more rational, humane and effective alternatives, are neither serious nor responsible politicians, they are nothing but cowards — politically and intellectually speaking. Gart Valenc Twitter: @gartvalenc Website: http:www.stopthewarondrugs.org
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Gart Valenc
Sunday, February 5, 2012