Legal Commentary

A Voice of Reason

By TChris

A British drug warrior has come to the realization that drug abuse should be treated as a public health problem, not as a crime.

A former senior civil servant who was responsible for coordinating the government's anti-drugs policy now believes that legalisation would be less harmful than the current strategy. Julian Critchley, the former director of the Cabinet Office's anti-drugs unit, also said that his views were shared by the "overwhelming majority" of professionals in the field, including police officers, health workers and members of the government.

Critchley points out that "enforcement and supply-side interventions ... have no significant, lasting impact on the availability, affordability or use of drugs." His belief "that New Labour's policy on drugs was based on what was thought would play well with the Daily Mail readership, regardless of evidence of what worked," parallels the belief of American politicians that a "tough on drugs" attitude plays well with the voting public despite overwhelming evidence that the criminal justice approach has failed. When will our policy makers have the courage to learn the obvious truth that Critchley has embraced?

Full post as published by TalkLeft on August 12, 2008 (boomark / email).