Neil McKeganey: The case for legalising drugs is fatally flawed

Published on Wednesday 30 November 2011 01:08

AT A RECENT parliamentary committee meeting, Baroness Eliza Manningham-Buller, the former head of MI5, added her name to calls for the decriminalisation of some illegal drugs.

The arguments being put forward are deeply flawed.

The claim is that the war on drugs has failed and we now need to consider liberalising our drug laws. Scotland has one of the highest levels of illegal drug use anywhere in Europe, and it is hard to see how allowing some illegal drugs to be even more widely available at a cheaper price will do anything to reduce the scale of our problem.

It was also said that by legalising certain drugs, it will be possible to undermine the profits of the criminal gangs involved in drug supply. Even if the government was to legalise and regulate the sale of the currently illegal drugs, it would undermine all the efforts at drug prevention.

If cannabis and other drugs were to become legally available, the government could rapidly find itself in a bidding war with the current illegal drug suppliers, who could always sell their drugs cheaper than the legal suppliers and so shrink the tax revenue from drug sales.

There is another issue that underpins the call for legalisation, which is whether any government should be involved in the supply of substances that can harm mental health and induce high levels of drug dependency. At the moment, the Scottish Government is trying to reduce the level of alcohol and tobacco consumption, and it would be bizarre for it to simultaneously take up the call to identify ways in which it could involve itself in the marketing of other dangerous drugs.

International experience from countries across the globe has revealed a simple truth, that effective drug policies are always a combination of treatment, prevention and enforcement. Those of a liberal persuasion might like to saw away at the third leg of that stool, but the consequences, were they to succeed, could be as dramatic as they could be predictable.

• Neil McKeganey is director of the Centre for Drug Misuse Research, Glasgow.

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propensity

Monday, December 5, 2011 at 03:35 PM

The issue is weather to re-legalise currently illicit drugs. When these drugs ie cannabis were legal there was less use and by definition less crime associated. To say the case for legalising drugs is flawed is ironic. Countries that have adopted more progressive drug policies see improved results by any discernible measure. The government could always supply drugs cheaper than criminals. Where medical cannabis is available there is a reduction in crime and motor vehicle accidents because of a corresponding reduction in alcohol consumption. Legalising drugs is not a 'white flag' in the war on drugs but a serious escalation. Government regulation and control of currently illicit drugs from manufacturer to consumption is the best way forward. In fact, that's how drugs were controlled prior to the disastrously counter-productive 'war on drugs'.

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TheBusBandit

Saturday, December 3, 2011 at 03:50 PM

You sir need to realise that people, including me, will do drugs regardless of it's legal status. Sometimes I like to unwind with a few lines of sniff rather then a beer but so what? I'm only directly hurting myself and who are you or anyone else to try and force what does or does not go into my body. The government will not have that hard of a time competing the the illicit competition since who in their right minds would purchase their goods off a shifty dealer where the quality of the drugs is unknown when you could just go to a licensed shop where you can be sure your drugs aren't bashed with rat poison and brick dust. Cheaper? Good! Making them cheaper will make it less likely people will need to steal to feed their habit. How many alcoholics steal to feed their habit?

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antiparasite

Friday, December 2, 2011 at 12:15 AM

No comments on the poor guy forced to stand in 'their' courts of 'their law' , bad play :( ......... Why do 'judges' take advice from the daily mail?

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antiparasite

Thursday, December 1, 2011 at 01:07 AM

Very weak argument and very predictible from someone profiting from the war on drugs.... Cut out the links with criminal gangs, grow your own :)

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