Brand gives MPs lesson in heroin addiction

RUSSELL Brand entertained a packed public gallery in the House of Commons yesterday as he urged police to stop wasting money prosecuting “minor” drugs offences and called for possession to be decriminalised.

The comic actor told the Commons home affairs select committee, which is reviewing UK drugs policy, that he overcame an addiction to heroin, and that he did not support the “just say no” message.

“I think some people can safely take drugs, I think they can. As long as it doesn’t turn them into criminals or harm their health then I don’t feel as if it’s any of my business,” he said.

“So I’m not here to do some, ‘just say no’ stuff. Let’s have an authoritative, truthful, honest debate and some funding for abstinence-based recovery.”

This would help “neutralise the toxic social threat they pose as criminals” rather than putting drug addicts on methadone for years, writing them off and leaving them on the sidelines of society, he said.

Brand said he became addicted to drugs because of emotional and psychological difficulties, adding “it was rough” and insisting he was not calling for “a free-for-all where everyone goes around taking drugs”.

Brand – who arrived at the hearing wearing a black hat, gold chains and crosses, and a torn black vest top with jeans – spoke rapidly as he addressed members of the committee by their first names, such as “Keith” and “Michael”.

During a lively 30-minute turn, Brand also called the MPs “mate” and, when pushed for time by chairman Keith Vaz, replied: “Time is infinite. We can’t run out of time.”

In reference to the Abu Qatada extradition fiasco, he added: “Who’s next? Theresa May? She may not show up. Check she knows what day it is.”

When Labour MP David Winnick told Brand the committeewas not a variety show, the comedian replied: “You’re providing a little bit of variety though, making it more like Dad’s Army.”

He also called for more help and support for those who did suffer from the “condition of addiction”.

Brand, who has been arrested a dozen times over his drug use, said the legal status of drugs was “irrelevant, at best an inconvenience” and being arrested was just an “administrative blip”.

Asked for his views on spending less money on the policing of possession offences, he said: “I think that’s a brilliant idea.

“Penalising people for possession of drugs is costly and expensive. A good number of times I was arrested was simply for possession and the administrative costs of that would be better spent, I think, on education and addressing the costs of treatment.

“I think that would be a very, very sensible use of those redirected funds.”

He went on: “I’m not a legal expert, but I’m saying that to a drug addict, the legal status is irrelevant. It is at best an inconvenience. “If you need to get drugs because you’re a drug addict, you’re going to get drugs regardless of their legal status so the more money you waste in administering and controlling that … I think there’s a futility to it.”

Backing decriminalisation, he added: “There’s a degree of cowardice and wilful ignorance around this condition.

“It’s something we increasingly need to handle compassionately and pragmatically.

“The criminal and legal status, I think sends the wrong message, but I wouldn’t start banging a drum to make drugs legal.

“I don’t take any drugs and I don’t drink because for me they’re bad.

“We need to recognise the distinction that certain people have a condition or a tendency that drugs and alcohol are going to ruin their lives. We need to identify those people and offer them the correct treatment.”

He added: “Making it illegal is not working anyway. Being arrested isn’t a lesson, it’s just an administrative blip.”

Brand said society was wrong to criminalise addiction and it should be treated as a potentially fatal illness instead.

The 36-year-old – who split from singer Katy Perry, 27, last year after just 14 months of marriage – added: “My message is for people that have this condition of addiction. If you have the condition of addiction there is help available and I recommend abstinence-based recovery.”