Decriminalise and legally regulate say Chair of Bar Council and Editor of BMJ

 

 

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'Decriminalise drugs' say Editor of BMJ and Chair of Bar Council

 

In a concerted attack on the war on drugs, the Chair of the UK Bar Council has called for the decriminalisation of personal use and the Editor of the British Medical Journal called for the legal regulation of drugs. 

 

In a special edition of the BMJ, the editor Fiona Godlee endorses an article by Steve Rolles of Transform, calling for an end to the war on drugs and its replacement with a legal system of regulation and control:

"In a beautifully argued essay Stephen Rolles calls on us to envisage an alternative to the hopelessly failed war on drugs. He says, and I agree, that we must regulate drug use, not criminalise it."

 

And in his most recent report, the Chair of the Bar Council, Mr Nicholas Green QC says:

 "Another political hot potato is drugs. Drug related crime costs the economy about £13bn a year. Again a growing body of comparative evidence suggests that decriminalising personal use can have positive consequences; it can free up huge amounts of police resources, reduce crime and recidivism and improve public health. All this can be achieved without any overall increase in drug usage. If this is so, then it would be rational to follow suit…And this will save money and mean that there is less pressure on the justice system."

 

Green continued: "A rational approach is not usually the response of large parts of the media when it comes to issues relating to criminal justice. This is something the Bar Council can address. We are apolitical; we act for the prosecution and the defence and most of the judiciary are former members. We can speak out in favour of an approach which urges policies which work and not those which simply play to the gallery."

 

Danny Kushlick, Head of External Affairs at Transform Drug Policy Foundation said:

"The war on drugs is in deep crisis.  These comments show that support for drug policy reform is becoming more and more mainstream and fundamental change is now inevitable.  With a Prime Minster and Deputy Prime Minister both longstanding supporters of alternatives to the war on drugs, at the very least the Government must initiate an impact assessment comparing prohibition with decriminalisation and strict legal regulation."

 

ENDS

 

Contact:

Danny Kushlick, Head of External Affairs 07970 174747

 

Martin Powell, Head of Campaigns 07875 679301

 

Notes for Editors:

 

The special edition of the BMJ was timed to coincide with world's largest AIDS Conference in Vienna and included an article on the Vienna Declaration, which calls ion policy makers to shift drug policy from a criminal justice approach to a public health-led approach:

http://www.viennadeclaration.com/index.html

 

Fiona Godlee's BMJ Editorial

 'Ideology in the ascendant'

 

Nicholas Green, Bar Council Chair's Report

http://www.barcouncil.org.uk/news/chairmans-search/detail.php?id=179

 

Steve Rolles's BMJ article

An alternative to the war on drugs

 

David Cameron on reform

As a member of the Home Affairs Select Committee inquiry into drug misuse in 2002 - voted in favour of recommendation 24:

"24. We recommend that the Government initiates a discussion within the Commission on Narcotic Drugs of alternative ways—including the possibility of legalisation and regulation—to tackle the global drugs dilemma (paragraph 267)."

Source:http://www.parliament.the-stationery-office.co.uk/pa/cm200102/cmselect/cmhaff/318/31814.htm