LATER this month the body which advises the government on illegal drugs is likely to call for ecstasy to be downgraded from a Class A to a Class B drug. But what would reclassification mean? Ecstasy is the third most popular illegal drug in the UK and is used by eight million people world-wide. In Britain it is a Class A drug, along with LSD, heroin and cocaine. Those caught in possession could face up to seven years in prison, an unlimited fine or both. [continues 672 words]
Senior police officers are urging a government advisory group to leave Ecstasy as a class A drug. The Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs is meeting today to discuss whether the amphetamine should be downgraded to class B. As part of discussions, panel members will consider a submission from the Association of Chief Police Officers, stating that transferring Ecstasy to a lower-classed drug would send out an 'unfortunate message'. Presentations will be made from experts on how the drug, also known as MDMA, affects users. [continues 307 words]
At last the incurably traumatised may be seeing the light at the end of the tunnel. And controversially, the key to taming their demons is the 'killer' drug Ecstasy An Ecstasy tablet. That's what it took to make Donna Kilgore feel alive again - that and the doctor who prescribed it. As the pill began to take effect, she giggled for the first time in ages. She felt warm and fuzzy, as if she was floating. The anxiety melted away. Gradually, it all became clear: the guilt, the anger, the shame. [continues 4086 words]
Brighton Kemptown MP Des Turner has called for hard drugs to be legalised. The Labour MP spoke out after an investigation by The Argus lifted the lid on street dealing in Brighton and Hove. Reporter Andy Whelan bought heroin from a man in one of Hove's main shopping streets. And it took him just 26 minutes to obtain the drug. Dr Turner's comments come after details of yet another young victim of the city's heroin trade were revealed. [continues 678 words]
CHILDREN as young as 10 are being busted for having cannabis stashes in North Wales, the Daily Post can reveal. Over the past two years police have hauled in youngsters aged under 14 for drug offences including dealing cannabis and possession of LSD and ecstasy. But drug and alcohol workers said the number of arrests logged were just the tip of the iceberg - and many more cases were going undetected. North Wales drug and alcohol help service Cais said it was important to hammer the message home that drugs are dangerous and can damage a child's life and society. [continues 315 words]
I WOULD never take ecstasy or aspirin unless prescribed. However, I'm fed up with ignoramuses like Peter Stoker who has made a career out of talking cp about drugs ('Cop or Clown?', WoS, Jan 6). Brunstrom's comments are slightly misleading, because it's not that simple. However, he is to be congratulated for stating the obvious: that current policies are entirely counter-productive. As long as lying hypocrites can get votes by talking tough on drugs, no progress can be made. CHRIS SMITH Via e-mail [end]
A coroner has rebutted claims that ecstasy is not dangerous at the inquest of a disqualified driver who was high on the drug when he killed himself and a friend in a road crash. Dean Chevalier, 20, was more than twice over the legal alcohol limit when he lost control of his friend's car, killing himself and 23-year-old Matthew Prothero. Both were high on ecstasy and had drunk tequila and lager before the accident on a minor road, near Grantham, Lincs, on May 20 last year. [continues 841 words]
HANDS up who can name the chief constables of South Wales, Gwent or Dyfed-Powys police forces? And it doesn't count if you work for them. Yet chances are - whether you live in Wrexham, Holyhead, Carmarthen, Newport or over the border in England - you will know the name of the chief constable of North Wales Police. Because no other police chief in Britain has ever so closely courted publicity as Mr Richard Brunstrom, who this month marks six years in charge of the force. [continues 1166 words]
NORTH Wales top cop Richard Brunstrom started the New Year in his usual controversial way by going on Radio 4 to say ecstasy was safer than aspirin, and that all drugs would be legal within a decade. What a plonker. His prohibition argument seems to make sense when he argues that legalising drugs would destroy a major source of organised crime, and that banning substances doesn't actually stop many people from using them. But we all know deep down that legalising drugs would eventually lead to a far greater problem and would be a terrible curse on society. [continues 688 words]
The next time you go into Boots, try this. Go up to the pharmacy counter and say, "I'd like a dozen Ecstasy tablets, please". When the assistant gives you a startled look, inform them, "It's safer than aspirin". If they still look unconvinced, tell them it's not you saying this, but the Chief Constable of North Wales. There, they'll be sure to hand them over, won't they? We employ police offers to perform a pretty precise role. They are paid to prevent crime through their presence on the streets. Should a crime occur, we task them with catching the culprit and assembling enough evidence to secure a conviction. [continues 490 words]
HOW DANGEROUS IS ECSTASY, AND IS THERE A CASE TO REVIEW ITS LEGAL STATUS? Why are we asking this now? Because the outspoken chief constable of North Wales, Richard Brunstrom, has reignited the debate over the legalisation of drugs by saying that Ecstasy, used mainly in clubs and at raves, is "far safer than aspirin". He also said that the legalisation of all drugs was inevitable and only a decade away. His comments drew criticism from MPs, anti-drugs pressure groups and relatives of people whose deaths have been related to the use of Ecstasy. Some have called on him to resign. [continues 1153 words]
The Chief Constable Who Last Week Said Ecstasy Is Safer Than Aspirin Peddles His Drug Theory to Our Correspondent Few senior cops can boast such an electrifying record as Richard Brunstrom. He recently stunned himself with a Taser gun to prove the police device was not dangerous. Then he broke into his own headquarters at night to highlight a lack of security. And last week Brunstrom's sanity was questioned after he proclaimed that the illegal drug ecstasy was "a remarkably safe substance" – safer than aspirin. [continues 759 words]
We Should Stop Agonising Over Ecstasy. Richard Brunstrom Is Right - It Is Remarkably Safe This is the story of Mr A, a patient formerly under the addiction centre at St George's Medical School in London. His name was kept private either for professional reasons or because he cannot remember it. Between the ages of 21 and 30, Mr A is believed to have taken 40,000 Ecstasy pills. This figure is so insane it is actually comical. His intake rose from five pills over each weekend, to a little over 100 each month and, finally, 25 every day, a habit he maintained for four years, no doubt to the awe of his social circle. [continues 987 words]
CHIEF Constable Richard Brunstrom got the full backing of a member of the North Wales Police Authority yesterday as a fresh row broke out over his highly controversial views on drugs. In a radio interview, Mr Brunstrom claimed Ecstasy was safer than aspirin, and predicted that all drugs would be legalised within 10 years. He added: "If you look at the Government's own research into deaths, you'll find that Ecstasy, by comparison to many other substances - legal and illegal - is a comparatively safe substance." [continues 374 words]
FORMER Cambridgeshire Chief Constable Tom Lloyd has backed top police officer Richard Brunstrom after calls for his resignation, which resulted from him saying aspirin is more dangerous than Ecstasy. The North Wales Chief Constable is an ally of Mr Lloyd in the campaign to legalise Class A drugs such as heroin and cocaine. They want drugs "taken out of the hands of criminals" in a bid to reduce crime and save lives. But maverick Mr Brunstrom, known for targeting speeding drivers, sparked huge controversy when he called Ecstasy a "remarkably safe substance, far safer than aspirin". [continues 377 words]
KILLER drug ecstasy is safer than ASPIRIN, top cop Richard Brunstrom claimed yesterday. He also repeated his call for Class A substances like heroin and cocaine to be LEGALISED. The North Wales chief const-able claimed such a move was "inevitable" - - and could happen in 10 years. About 400 people in the UK have died from ecstasy since 1994. But Mr Brunstrom, known for targeting speeding drivers, called it a "remarkably safe substance, far safer than aspirin". The maverick cop told the BBC: "There is a lot of scaremongering, rumourmongering around ecstasy. [continues 150 words]
2007 saw almost fifteen thousand new news clippings added to the drugnews.org archives. Over a half million different readers from about 125 countries accessed the clippings during the year. Based on a formula which recognizes that older clippings may have been accessed more than the more recent ones, selections of the 600 most read clippings by areas of the world are provided at the following link: http://www.mapinc.org/alert/0357.html By Radley Balko at Reason Hit & Run [continues 573 words]
(1) GERALD LE DAIN, 83: JURIST Pubdate: Thu, 3 Jan 2008 Source: Globe and Mail (Canada) Copyright: 2008 The Globe and Mail Company Author: Noreen Shanahan, Special to The Globe and Mail His Landmark Commission on Drugs Urged Legalizing Marijuana in 1973 Already a Respected Legal Scholar, He Became an Improbable Counterculture Icon at the Height of the Hippy Era by Recommending Leniency and the Decriminalization of Recreational Drugs TORONTO -- Gerald Le Dain's respect for civil liberties went so far as to rouse John Lennon and Yoko Ono from their bed. It was 1969, the year of the couple's "bed-in for peace" at the Queen Elizabeth Hotel in Montreal, and the year Judge Le Dain began chairing the much- referenced but largely ignored Commission of Inquiry into the Non- Medical Use of Drugs. [continues 7084 words]
IT IS "inevitable" that all drugs will be legalised, a Welsh police chief claimed yesterday. North Wales Chief Constable Richard Brunstrom said a move towards drugs being decriminalised is "10 years away" and claimed doing so would destroy a major source of organised crime. Mr Brunstrom has sparked controversy in the past for his views on drugs, drawing criticism from anti-drug groups when he stated his belief that heroin should be made legal. He made his latest comments on a special edition of the Today programme on Radio 4, edited by officers from Dyfed-Powys Police. Inspector Richard Lewis, Samantha Gainard and Chief Superintendent Paul Amphlett were among a series of guest editors invited to take the helm of the flagship programme. [continues 536 words]
Notorious chief constable Richard Brunstrom is facing demands to resign after publicly claiming that the illegal rave drug ecstasy is safer than aspirin. In his latest bizarre proclamation, he insisted that the drug - which claims almost 50 lives a year - was a "remarkably safe substance". And he went on to dismiss what he called "scaremongering" over the dangers, while predicting that all drugs would be legalised within ten years. The comments from the gaffe-prone head of the North Wales force infuriated the families of youngsters who died after taking ecstasy. [continues 551 words]
Fury Over Class a Pill Claim One of Britain's top policemen sparked a furious row yesterday when he claimed Ecstasy was safer than aspirin. Richard Brunstrom, the controversial Chief Constable of North Wales, said there was "scaremongering" about deaths and the side-effects associated with the dance drug. He said: "Ecstasy is a remarkably safe substance, far safer than aspirin. It's far less dangerous than tobacco or alcohol which are freely available." This contradicts Government warnings about the Class A drug, which has been blamed for more than 200 deaths since 1996. [continues 512 words]
A CONTROVERSIAL former Cleveland Police chief was facing calls to quit today after claiming ecstasy is safer than aspirin. Anti-drugs campaigners condemned the comments by Richard Brunstrom, pictured, the chief constable of North Wales and former assistant chief constable of Cleveland Police, who advocates the legalisation of all drugs. Challenged about the dangers of drugs like ecstasy, he said that Government evidence demonstrated it was actually safer than many legally-available substances. "Ecstasy is a remarkably safe substance - it's far safer than aspirin," he told BBC Radio 4's Today programme. [continues 135 words]
A police chief came under fresh criticism last night after suggesting that the drug ecstasy is less dangerous than aspirin. Richard Brunstrom, the chief constable of North Wales, made the claim as he repeated his call for drugs to be decriminalised. Mr Brunstrom made a formal submission last year to a Home Office review advocating the legalisation of illegal drugs, such as heroin and cocaine. The Government rejected that call, but Mr Brunstrom yesterday kept up his campaign on the Today programme on BBC Radio 4. [continues 425 words]
Ecstasy is safer than aspirin, Richard Brunstrom, the Chief Constable of North Wales Police, has said. Speaking on the Today programme on BBC Radio 4 yesterday, Mr Brunstrom repeated his call for the legalisation of drugs. "There's a lot of scaremongering and rumour-mongering about Ecstasy in particular," he said. "It isn't borne out by the evidence. Ecstasy is a remarkably safe substance, far safer than aspirin. It is far less dangerous than tobacco or alcohol." He added: "The prohibition regime does not work. It transfers billions of pounds of our money into the hands of organised criminals." The Government rejected a formal submission to the Home Office last year by Mr Brunstrom in which he called for proscribed drugs to be legalised. [end]
FOR those who follow the debate concerning controlled drugs and the harm they cause to our local communities, it has been a rather confusing 12 months. In the spring, the Royal Society published a report broadly condemning as a failure the current government strategy for tackling drugs. The same report questioned the ability of police and other law enforcement agencies to stem the flow of drugs into our communities. In the summer, the Home Office announced a period of consultation as it prepared to refresh and re-publish the Government's drug strategy in 2008. [continues 1034 words]
No one could ever have accused Richard Brunstrom of fearing controversy. But his suggestion yesterday that ecstasy is safer than aspirin must make even his most ardent supporters question his judgment - if not his sanity. Even by the peculiar standards of North Wales's chief constable it was an outlandish suggestion, prompting one observer to ask: "Exactly what colour is the sky on the planet where Brunstrom lives?" Yet nothing deters the ambitious officer, who took over in January 2001 and once proposed putting a vending machine for needles for heroin addicts outside Colwyn Bay police station, to be kept stocked with disposable syringes by ambulance crews. [continues 710 words]
As A retired Detective Inspector with Staffordshire Police, a huge amount of my lengthy service was spent in involvement with drugs. I worked for three years as a frontline detective in the 1980s with the Staffordshire Police drugs squad, involved with nothing other than drug abuse, drug dealing and numerous drug-related deaths. I can honestly say with my hand on my heart that every single drug user who I dealt with, for whatever kind of illegal drug, who cared to tell me of his or her background, always claimed that their very first experience of illegal drugs had been by smoking cannabis. [continues 602 words]
THE police chief spearheading Scotland's war on drugs quit his post last night, blaming bureaucracy, under-manning and lack of co-operation. Graeme Pearson, head of the Scottish Crime and Drug Enforcement Agency (SCDEA), took an explosive sideswipe at ministers and fellow police chiefs as he left office more than two years early, declaring he "would not apply for his own job". Pearson complained that his agency had never been fully staffed, revealed some Scottish police forces refused to release experienced officers for anti-drug campaigns, and suggested there was a lack of ambition at the highest levels in dealing with the menace of drugs. [continues 924 words]
(1) YOUNG PEOPLE USING LESS CANNABIS SINCE DOWNGRADE Pubdate: Thu, 25 Oct 2007 Source: Times, The (UK) Copyright: 2007 Times Newspapers Ltd Author: Richard Ford, Home Correspondent of The Times Cannabis use among young people has fallen sharply since the Government downgraded it to a Class C drug three years ago, according to figures published today. The proportion of 16 to 24 year olds who said they had used cannabis in the past year fell from 25 per cent when the law was changed, to 21 per cent in 2006/7, a total of about 1.3m youngsters. [continues 7617 words]
CHIEF Constable Richard Brunstrom yesterday won support for his crusade to legalise drugs from an ex-law enforcer in the United States. Former undercover narcotics cop from New Jersey Jack Cole declared: "It's the only way out of this mess." Mr Cole is heading a campaign in the USA to end prohibition of drugs which has attracted 10,000 supporters among the police and justice system. North Wales' chief constable won backing this week from the police authority for a radical overhaul of drugs laws in the UK. But he faced a backlash from politicians opposed to relaxing the legal ban on drugs such as heroin and cocaine. [continues 269 words]
Think-Tank Says Prohibition Has Failed and Wants Talks on Legalisation As Home Office Defends Ban The government's consultation on a new 10-year drugs strategy is a 'sham', according to one of Britain's leading think-tanks on narcotics, which warns that the current policy is fuelling a crime epidemic. The Transform Drug Policy Foundation, the only UK organisation of its kind to advise the United Nations on such issues, will this week publish a new report claiming the current strategy has failed. The report, 'After the War on Drugs: Tools for the Debate', claims there is an urgent need for full consultation on allowing the controlled supply of illegal drugs. 'It is clear our drug policy cannot continue down the same failed path forever,' the report states. 'Prohibition's failure is now widely understood and acknowledged among key stakeholders in the debate... the political benefits of pursuing prohibition are now waning and the political costs of its continuation are becoming unsustainable.' [continues 446 words]
If Richard Brunstrom wants to make life hard for speeding drivers, he has my full support, though I much prefer patrol cars to cameras. The results of speeding are often horrible. If fining people makes them slow down, then fine them. I say this partly because I want to make it clear that my scorn for the North Wales Chief Constable's plan to legalise drugs has no other motive or reason, except that I think he is a dangerous and defeatist person whose approach to drugs is morally deficient, and he is unfit to run a police force. [continues 534 words]
Richard Brunstrom, the Chief Constable of North Wales, seems to me to be an admirable man. It would be easy for him, politically and socially and in terms of his own career, to toe a downbeat or crowd-pleasing line. Instead, he annoys selfish motorists by arguing that prosecuting people for speeding is a reasonable thing to do; and - - still more impressively - he is prepared to tell the truth about drugs. Earlier this week, before the Home Office concluded its review into drug policy, Mr Brunstrom's local police authority supported and forwarded to the Home Secretary a series of recommendations he summed up as follows: "If policy on drugs is in future to be pragmatic not moralistic, driven by ethics not dogma, then the current prohibitionist stance will have to be swept away as both unworkable and immoral, to be replaced with an evidence-based unified system (specifically including tobacco and alcohol) aimed at minimisation of harms to society." [continues 656 words]
Sir: Congratulations to The Independent for giving such intensive coverage to the legalisation of all drugs, and in particular to the Chief Constable of North Wales, Richard Brunstrom, for the courageous but pragmatic stance that he has taken. It is refreshing to see someone of such stature, working within the criminal justice system, at last recognising that there has to be a new approach. In the last six of 25 years of general practice in a rural community in Wiltshire four young patients of mine died as a result of heroin use. They would be alive today if they had had legal and safe access to their heroin. Many more young lives that I was aware of as chairman of a Drugs Advisory Service were made intolerable by the custodial sentences they were given for possession, for shooting themselves up or for the criminal activities they indulged in to support their habit. What they really wanted was legal, safe and controlled access to the drugs they were taking so that they could over time decide to kick the habit with the care and support of properly trained people in the community. [continues 59 words]
By Jessica Pupovac When crack cocaine possession means 24 years in prison and manslaughter means only 3, you know something is seriously wrong with the U.S. criminal justice system. http://alternet.org/drugreporter/65406/ By Jessica Pupovac When crack cocaine possession means 24 years in prison and manslaughter means only 3, you know something is seriously wrong with the U.S. criminal justice system. [continues 224 words]
COMMENT: (1-4) MAP's news clippings identify clippings from student newspapers with "Edu:" because we wish to recognize the work of students, who most often write without pay while learning the skills of reporting. They make mistakes we would not expect from major newspapers - like the reporter who wrote "gypsum weed" instead of jimson weed throughout an article this week. Our sense is that student newspapers give our issues more coverage than the average newspaper, and often in a more favorable light. Two well-written articles lead this section. [continues 6768 words]
North Wales Police Chief Constable Richard Brunstrom has prodded the sleeping giant that is the legalising drugs debate, an issue we are still no closer as a society to tackling. The outcome is usually that that we talk about it and then ignore it, because no-one seems to have an answer. On the one hand it is ridiculous to criminalise people who, after a bad day at work, choose to snort a line of coke in their own homes. It is equally pointless throwing drug addicts into jail, when they clearly need help for their addiction and the underlying problems that led to them becoming addicted in the first place. [continues 276 words]
NORTH Wales Chief Constable Richard Brunstrom is never afraid of speaking his mind, and, in an age when blandness and spin dominate public affairs, he can sometimes be a refreshing figure. But his views on the legalisation of drugs are wrong-headed, and the decision of the North Wales Police Authority to back them is baffling. Mr Brunstrom has long held the view that UK drug laws should be overhauled, and the fact that he has submitted a paper repeating that view - which extends to legalisation of all drugs and offering heroin on the NHS - is perhaps not too surprising. The councillors and other individuals who make up Police Authorities are not the people one would expect to sympathise much with Mr Brunstrom, particularly when the Authority and the chief have not always seen eye-to-eye. [continues 342 words]
Stephen Holland, 57, who lost his 23-year-old son Lee to drugs, said Chief Constable Richard Brunstrom's ideas would see more youngsters becoming addicts. Mr Holland's wife Julie found their son dead in bed in April 2002 after he had taken a cocktail of methadone, vodka and ecstasy. He said his son began taking cannabis as a 14-year-old and his fascination with drugs grew until he progressed to experimenting with more harmful substances like heroin. Mr Holland, from Tonypandy, said, "I lost a son who hadn't even reached his prime. We found him dead on a Sunday morning after we called him for dinner. It was a terrible thing. [continues 107 words]
CONTROVERSIAL police chief Richard Brunstrom's calls to legalise all drugs and make heroin available on the NHS were yesterday backed by his force's governing body. Members of the North Wales Police Authority approved plans to pass a paper - written by Mr Brunstrom calling for the liberalisation of drugs laws - to the Home Secretary Jacqui Smith. But the early indications were that the police chief's radical ideas would be given short shrift in London. In answer to a question from North Wales Tory MP David Jones, Home Office minister Vernon Coaker said yesterday rigorous enforcement of drugs laws is needed. [continues 888 words]
NORTH Wales Police Authority chiefs yesterday backed calls for a radical overhaul of drug laws by the chief constable -- to the fury of opponents. Although the authority stepped back from supporting Chief Constable Richard Brunstrom's call to legalise all drugs, members urged a review of the Misuse of Drugs Act. But as Mr Brunstrom hailed the support a "fantastic result" Clwyd West MP David Jones said the Home Office had confirmed it was going to boot his ideas into touch. [continues 549 words]
A senior police officer's call for the legalisation of all drugs, including heroin, has been backed by a former chief inspector of prisons. Lord Ramsbotham argued that the huge number of people in jail with a drug problem proved that current policy, based on "prohibition", was not working. Richard Brunstrom, the Chief Constable of North Wales, provoked controversy after he said the "war on drugs" could not be won and should be replaced with a radical new approach. Lord Ramsbotham said: "The present regime has failed in every way. If you look at prohibition of alcohol in the US, it failed. The Chief Constable's suggestions must be considered seriously. We've got to stop the dealers who cause so much misery for society." [continues 290 words]
The three people in the room in The Elms in Wrexham are all drug users and they all agree with Chief Constable Brunstrom - drugs should be legalised. The difference between their drug use and a person enjoying a drink is that they are addicted and have all been arrested for crimes they committed to feed their habit. But maybe these people are unlucky drug users, like unlucky drinkers become alcoholics, the difference is an alcoholic is not breaking the law when they go and get their fix. [continues 1190 words]
A STORM again erupted around controversial police chief Richard Brunstrom yesterday when he advocated the legalising of drugs. The Chief Constable of North Wales, who has suggested a needle-vending machine outside a police station, wants to see heroin made available on the NHS. Ex-drugs tsar Keith Hellawell compared his arguments with those of an "ill-informed sixth-former." And the Association of Chief Police Officers has described his report as "a counsel of despair." But Mr Brunstrom, won backing from his police authority to send his ideas to Home Secretary Jacqui Smith. [continues 125 words]
CONTROVERSIAL police chief Richard Brunstrom today won backing for a major overhaul of the UK drugs laws. The Chief Constable of North Wales presented a paper to his local Police Authority which will be given to Home Secretary Jacqui Smith as part of a national consultation on drugs reform. In it, Mr Brunstrom - notorious for his support for speed cameras and tough stance against speeding motorists - argued for legalising all drugs and making heroin available on the NHS. He said there was a battle with "the flat earthers" who refuse to look at the evidence suggesting drugs laws need a radical change. [continues 139 words]
Addicts in Wrexham have spoken out in favour of North Wales police chief Richard Brunstrom's controversial proposals to legalise drugs. On the day that the much scrutinised proposals will be considered by the police authority, patients of The Elms in Wrexham, being treated for heroin addiction, have endorsed the radical solution to tackling drug use. One 26-year-old being helped by the centre said: "The problem with drugs being illegal is that you centre most of your life on getting hold of them. [continues 125 words]
The controversial Chief Constable Richard Brunstrom, has been accused by his fellow chief officers of advocating a "counsel of despair" in calling for the abolition of current drugs law and a move toward the legalisation of banned substances including heroin and cocaine. Mr Brunstrom's assertion that the Government's current "war on drugs" has failed won some support. But there was little sympathy for his advocacy of the legalisation and regulation of "all harmful drugs" as a way of reducing the damage they cause. [continues 511 words]
One of Britain's most senior police officers is to call for all drugs - - including heroin and cocaine - to be legalised and urges the Government to declare an end to the "failed" war on illegal narcotics. Richard Brunstrom, the Chief Constable of North Wales, advocates an end to UK drug policy based on "prohibition". His comments come as the Home Office this week ends the process of gathering expert advice looking at the next 10 years of strategy. In his radical analysis, which he will present to the North Wales Police Authority today, Mr Brunstrom points out that illegal drugs are now cheaper and more plentiful than ever before. [continues 1086 words]
The Chief Constable of North Wales, Richard Brunstrom, will today ask his police authority to put its weight behind his call for the legalisation of drugs. Heroin, ecstasy, LSD, cannabis - the chief constable is advocating that all should be legal. He says current policies are failing, and he wants this to be the official submission of his force to the current Home Office consultation on drugs strategy. This is brave talk. It is likely to be met with the usual knee-jerk dismissal that such recommendations habitually attract. But, as more and more thoughtful people adopt this view, is it not time to consider the chief constable's views on their merits? There has been a tendency to believe that the only people qualified to challenge current orthodoxy on drugs policy are those familiar with the gritty inner city. If the police chief in a predominantly rural region - itself not immune to drug problems - believes the law as it stands is having a perverse effect, surely this is a sign that the blight of addiction warrants a new approach. [continues 465 words]
We at Drugscope do not support the legalisation of drugs but we appreciate the debate Richard Brunstrom is helping to generate. What we do support is a review of the Misuse of Drugs Act. Charles Clarke, when Home Secretary, promised there would such a review but the Government changed its mind and that has not happened. We need to look at the best way of minimising the harm drugs can cause and that can mean looking at radical policy changes. But to be effective and to get public support and investment, change has to be incremental. [continues 374 words]
