"War On Drugs Has Failed". says former heads of M15, CPS, BBC - Polidicks

[QUOTE=Telegraph]Leading peers – including prominent Tories – say that despite governments worldwide drawing up tough laws against dealers and users over the past 50 years, illegal drugs have become more accessible. Vast amounts of money have been wasted on unsuccessful crackdowns, while criminals have made fortunes importing drugs into this country. The increasing use of the most harmful drugs such as heroin has also led to “enormous health problems”, according to the group. The MPs and members of the House of Lords, who have formed a new All-Party Parliamentary Group on Drug Policy Reform, are calling for new policies to be drawn up on the basis of scientific evidence. It could lead to calls for the British government to decriminalise drugs, or at least for the police and Crown Prosecution Service not to jail people for possession of small amounts of banned substances. Their intervention could receive a sympathetic audience in Whitehall, where ministers and civil servants are trying to cut the numbers and cost of the prison population. The Justice Secretary, Ken Clarke, has already announced plans to help offenders kick drug habits rather than keeping them behind bars. The former Labour government changed its mind repeatedly on the risks posed by cannabis use and was criticised for sacking its chief drug adviser, Prof David Nutt, when he claimed that ecstasy and LSD were less dangerous than alcohol. The chairman of the new group, Baroness Meacher – who is also chairman of an NHS trust – told The Daily Telegraph: “Criminalising drug users has been an expensive catastrophe for individuals and communities. “In the UK the time has come for a review of our 1971 Misuse of Drugs Act. I call on our Government to heed the advice of the UN Office on Drugs and Crime that drug addiction should be recognised as a health problem and not punished. “We have the example of other countries to follow. The best is Portugal which has decriminalised drug use for 10 years. Portugal still has one of the lowest drug addiction rates in Europe, the trend of Young people's drug addiction is falling in Portugal against an upward trend in the surrounding countries, and the Portuguese prison population has fallen over time.” Lord Lawson, who was Chancellor of the Exchequer between 1983 and 1989, said: “I have no doubt that the present policy is a disaster. “This is an important issue, which I have thought about for many years. But I still don't know what the right answer is – I have joined the APPG in the hope that it may help us to find the right answer.” Other high-profile figures in the group include Baroness Manningham-Buller, who served as Director General of MI5, the security service, between 2002 and 2007; Lord Birt, the former Director-General of the BBC who went on to become a “blue-sky thinker” for Tony Blair; Lord Macdonald of River Glaven, until recently the Director of Public Prosecutions; and Lord Walton of Detchant, a former president of the British Medical Association and the General Medical Council. Current MPs on the group include Peter Bottomley, who served as a junior minister under Margaret Thatcher; Mike Weatherley, the newly elected Tory MP for Hove and Portslade; and Julian Huppert, the Liberal Democrat MP for Cambridge. The group’s formation coincides with the 50th anniversary of the United Nations Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs, which paved the way for a war on drugs by describing addiction as a “serious evil”, attempting to limit production for medicinal and scientific uses only, and coordinating international action against traffickers. The peers and MPs say that despite governments “pouring vast resources” into the attempt to control drug markets, availability and use has increased, with up to 250 million people worldwide using narcotics such as cannabis, cocaine and heroin in 2008. They believe the trade in illegal drugs makes more than £200 billion a year for criminals and terrorists, as well as destabilising entire nations such as Afghanistan and Mexico. As a result, the all-party group is working with the Beckley Foundation, a charitable trust, to review current policies and scientific evidence in order to draw up proposed new ways to deal with the problem.[/QUOTE] "Former" being the key word here. You rarely ever see these people taking a stand on drug issues when they are actually in a position to affect policy, sad really. [url=http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/law-and-order/8393838/War-on-drugs-has-failed-say-former-heads-of-MI5-CPS-and-BBC.html]Source[/url]

[QUOTE=Esteam;28726602]"War On Drugs Has Failed". says former heads of M15, CPS, BBC [/QUOTE] Great, they only came to that realization three-fourths of a century too late.

In similarly obvious news, the sky is blue.

Great, now if only we got something on the "war on terror" in the states.

Really? I never noticed....

Oh for fuck sake just legalize marijuana and get over with it, thats probably 90% or more of all cases anyway.

It's good that prohibition is becoming more visibly outspoken against. It's just an illogical practice. Even if you assume that drugs are addictive and highly dangerous, total prohibition only makes it worse it.

It's all about political convenience. People in high/important positions with the power to actually change things can easily be fired/lose votes/whatever if they aren't politically correct. For a case in point, look at Professor David Nutt, UK's chief drug adviser who got fired after saying cannabis and other drugs aren't as bad as they're portrayed to be.

[QUOTE=Brage Nyman;28726699]Oh for fuck sake just legalize marijuana and get over with it, thats probably 90% or more of all cases anyway.[/QUOTE] In college dorm rooms, sure. Everywhere else, not so much.

The war was a failure to begin with, at least concerning the weed. The problem is that most people in politics lack cajones, especially the men, and those that do are those few-and-far-between backbenchers that aren't in any significant positions, with the best of them being "MP for Flydale North". Not only that, but they are blinded by the feculant ignorance of a bygone era. This is the 21st century, and the 3rd millennium too, so why do politicians act like they hail from the 19th and early 20th? All in all, if we are to survive this Critical Century, we will need politicians that are clear-sighted, well-informed, and above all else, have masses of confidence and cajones. If not, we're already dead.

It's nice how they say"All these criminals are making so much money" when some of the people are just a normal house wife, teenager in school, etc. and they are suddenly just "criminals" and "terrorists". Nice categorizations! Job well done in doing jack shit about everything else in the world and focusing on drugs. :downs: Why do they give a shit about what we even consume? Oh because they don't control it. :downs:

Well no fucking shit, most politicians don't realise that in nearly all cities and towns in england, you could dial a number on your phone and have a big bag of weed in less than an hour.

They aren't trying hard enough.

Oh well.

The war on Drugs was never set up to be Won, it's all just a game of cat and mouse-- orchestrated to employ a legion of people to help fight something that will never end.

I think you mean MI5 not M15. :frog:

-snip for ninja- DogGunn! :argh: They had a big chance to severely limit opium supply when Afghanistan was invaded. It didn't happen, besides terrorists, they were only after oil. It's always been a joke.

What about BOPE

:foxnews: Drugs win Drug War. More News at 11 :foxnews:

At least success in Portugal has finally been recognised and there's now a serious discussion The failed drugs war has been ignored by British politics for too long

[QUOTE=riceyrice;28727319]:foxnews: Drugs win Drug War. More News at 11 :foxnews:[/QUOTE] Wasn't that a title on The Onion at some point?

Drugs should be legalized, portugal is a great example. Instead of persecution, addicts should recieve treatment.

I don't get how, in the face of the obvious causality of overwhelming success in Portugal, govermnents will still hesitate to change their policies. You shouldn't base major economic decisions and constantly put lives in danger in the name of unfounded stigmas and misconceptions.

[QUOTE=Murkrow;28727306]What about BOPE[/QUOTE] What about them? Daily firefights with embedded drug cartels in the cities not evident enough of just how well (or rather not so well) the war on drugs is going?

Heroin, cocaine and opium destroys your brain cells.

[QUOTE=BCell;28728661]Heroin, cocaine and opium destroys your brain cells.[/QUOTE] Huh, must be the reason for all the dumbfuck bills recently.

Legalize all drugs, however in order to consume them you must pay a heavy tax proportional to the amount consumed.

[QUOTE=BCell;28728661]Heroin, cocaine and opium destroys your brain cells.[/QUOTE] Who gives a shit? If people want to injure themselves, let them. If they're legalized, it's just going to mean addicts are going to get better treatment options if they pursue it and cleaner, more pure drugs that will do less harm if they don't pursue treatment. Slapping your head against a wall causes more brain damage than those drugs, lets make that illegal too!

This has been stated many times before now by other people with relevant knowledge and understanding of the matter. What I want to know is; when will policy change to reflect this?

[QUOTE=Murkat;28726794]In college dorm rooms, sure. Everywhere else, not so much.[/QUOTE] Not just college it happens everywhere in over here in England.