Pubdate: Sat, 25 Jul 2015
Source: Independent  (UK)
Copyright: 2015 Independent Newspapers (UK) Ltd.
Contact:  http://www.independent.co.uk/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/209
Author: Janet Street-Porter

DURHAM TAKES US ONE SMALL STEP TOWARDS A SENSIBLE POLICY ON DRUGS

At last, a sign that the UK is moving - albeit at a snail's pace - 
towards a realistic policy on drugs, one that is appropriate for the 
21st century.

New figures show that more than a million people aged between 16 and 
24 used cannabis in the past year. Now, those in the North-east who 
keep pot plants - the hallucinogenic kind rather than a Busy Lizzie - 
no longer fear a knock on their door and a trip to the police station.

Durham's force is the first to announce that local users can grow 
drugs for personal consumption without fear of prosecution. This 
historic decision was taken by police and crime commissioner Ron 
Hogg, a former assistant chief constable, who has spent years engaged 
in the "war" on drugs; a futile battle that can never be won by 
forces already stretched by cuts, a huge increase in illegal online 
activity and a renewed focus on sexual offences against the young.

Hogg wants his decision to "prompt a national debate about drug 
laws", but people have asked for the same thing a million times over 
the past few decades and, it turns out, there's no such thing as 
rational debate about drink or drugs. Drugs are still ranked 
according to their potential harm, with punishments graded 
accordingly. New legal highs are created in a lab somewhere every 
single hour of the day - and Theresa May will never be able to stem 
the flow in spite of forcing through new legislation in an attempt to do so.

The latest figures show that the number of young people taking 
ecstasy has doubled in the past decade, but drug use still polarises 
public opinion. The only rational solution (given the size of the 
black market and the fact that drugs show no sign of going out of 
fashion) is to nationalise the industry, taxing and selling products 
in controlled premises in rationed amounts. That way, at least the 
Treasury would gain millions in revenue. At the moment, ministers 
talk about plugging tax loopholes and evasion, and dealing with 
non-doms, but can't face up to this UKP8bn tax-avoidance scheme 
that's functioning right under their noses.

Durham police will take no action against people who grow "small 
amounts" of cannabis (a class B drug) for their own use, but will 
still pursue those who are "blatant". I'm not sure what "blatant" 
means - dealers turning disused trading estates by the A1 into 
cannabis farms, perhaps? Previously, anyone convicted of growing a 
small amount of cannabis would probably receive a community sentence. 
Now smokers who live in Durham will be able to sign up to a "crime 
reduction initiative", which sounds a bit like the speeding awareness 
classes we can attend instead of receiving penalty points on our 
driving licences.

Hogg says his course of action is a chance for cannabis smokers "to 
recover", but the reality is his coppers have got more important 
things to do than drive around Durham arresting people for smoking 
dope. People who use cannabis regularly are unlikely to be persuaded 
that there's a better way to spend their time.

Labelling people as drug addicts because they smoke a couple of 
spliffs every day to relax, to sleep or help with pain is crass and 
inaccurate. Most experts agree our current drug laws are not working.

Demand for class A drugs is increasing. Last week cocaine worth 
UKP70m was found in the boot of a taxi near Tilbury Docks in east 
London. It will be destroyed, but that's UKP70m of goods that could 
have been checked for purity, packaged into strictly controlled units 
for sale and taxed highly.

By legalising drugs, the Government could raise the millions it needs 
to sort out the NHS, build its high-speed rail links and correct the 
collapse in social housing. It could also help to tackle the 
clandestine drug industry's abuse of illegal immigrants and the way 
its operatives break the law in many other ways: people trafficking, 
grooming kids for sex, blackmail and extortion.

Addicts constantly commit petty crime to get the cash for their 
habit, making them vulnerable to exploitation by dealers. Ron Hogg 
and his chief constable, Mick Barton, both want heroin to be 
decriminalised and supplied on the NHS. With the police under 
pressure to trim budgets further, I predict other forces will follow 
Durham and the Government will be forced to concede that the time to 
revisit our antiquated drug laws has finally arrived.

And in the meantime, can we at least acknowledge that not everyone 
who enjoys illegal drugs is an addict in need of rehabilitation?
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom