Pubdate: Sun, 2 Dec 2007
Source: Observer, The (UK)
Copyright: 2007 The Observer
Contact:  http://www.observer.co.uk/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/315
Author: Jamie Doward and Mark Townsend, The Observer
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?207 (Cannabis - United Kingdom)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/coke.htm (Cocaine)

KEY ADVISERS ATTACK NEW DRUGS POLICY

Home Office consultation is 'self-congratulatory and disappointing'

The government was at loggerheads with its own advisers last night 
over its new drugs policy.

An influential Home Office-backed committee raised serious doubts 
about the consultation process behind the 10-year strategy which will 
be unveiled in April. The Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs 
(ACMD) described the process as 'self-congratulatory and generally 
disappointing' and questioned the credibility of much of the evidence 
presented to government.

A spokesman for the Home Office said last month that the consultation 
process, which is being conducted by the polling agency Mori, had 
been 'open' and had included a wide range of views.

But the council said: 'We consider that an opportunity has been 
missed to address the public health problem relating to drug misuse 
and the balance with law enforcement and the Criminal Justice 
System...The consultation would benefit from extending further to the 
wider social harm of drug misuse.'

It also said: 'It is of concern that the evidence presented, and the 
interpretation given, are not based on rigorous scrutiny. It is not 
acknowledged that in many cases the information is uncertain and 
sometimes of poor quality.'

Last night politicians said the council's response raised questions 
about whether the government was more interested in spinning its 
record than tackling the war on drugs.

'The failures of the government's drugs policy are laid bare for all 
to see when their own advisory committee condemns the Home Office as 
being misleading and self-congratulatory,' said Liberal Democrat 
leadership contender Nick Clegg. 'When will the government wake up 
and acknowledge something many members of the public know: we are 
losing the war on drugs?' Clegg said

Steve Rolles of think tank Transform, which advises the UN on drugs 
policy, said: 'The consultation process behind the new strategy has 
been woeful.' Last month Transform branded the consultation process a 
'sham', saying the government had already made up its mind to 
continue with its current strategy.

Concerns about the direction of the government's next drugs strategy 
come as senior police officers warn that cannabis now presents a 
greater 'long-term' threat to Britain than cocaine. The increasing 
strength of high-grade 'skunk' combined with growing evidence of 
major criminal involvement in its production was fast becoming an 
issue of mounting concern. Hospitals recently revealed that the 
number of mental health admissions as a result of cannabis use had 
risen by 73 per cent. 
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MAP posted-by: Richard Lake