When you hear the word ‘drugs’ what springs to mind? Some of us may think of dangerous gangs dealing in pills, infected needles or of the ‘glamorous’ side of the drug world, with the idea that for the rich and famous, taking cocaine is as normal as making a cup of tea. Sometimes we forget that it is the complete deterioration of reality and health for those who get caught in the web of drugs and drug trafficking that needs to be remembered.
The debate on how to tackle the ‘war on drugs’ arose again after the Durham Police Chief Mike Barton, suggested that Class A drugs (includes heroin, cocaine, ecstasy and LSD) should be decriminalised and that drug addicts should be dealt with primarily as people who need help, not punishment.
What would be the benefits of legalisation though? One argument is that criminalising drugs is simply a way of ignoring underlying social reasons (like poverty) which encourage drug use in the first place; indeed, 6.8% of drug users with an income under £10,000 per year are frequent drug users compared with 1.4% with an income over £50,000. Another argument suggests that decriminalisation would take money away from dealers and gangs, putting power and knowledge back within our society and would resolve problems such as hepatitis-infected needles, ensuring a ‘safer’, more secure drug scene. It seems Mike Barton may have a point: encouraging a more open debate would surely be beneficial on many levels and would encourage us to think about drug users as people with a problem, not people trying to harm us or our society.
Whether legalisation is the answer or not is debatable and we cannot be sure that this would in fact lead to a more controlled drug scene. More importantly, would legalisation actually help drug users themselves? By allowing drugs like cocaine to be put on the market, drug prices would go down, making them more accessible not only to drug users but to people who would never have considered trying cannabis let alone class A drugs. Also, the law is fundamental in that it seeks to send a ‘message’ of what is the correct behaviour and attitude to adopt. In this sense, by decriminalizing extremely harmful drugs, are we not sending the wrong message out, namely that because it’s legal, it’s okay to use them?
Blaming the law for the problem of drug trafficking and drug use doesn’t resolve the problem either. Nevertheless, it remains that prohibition is not really working and fails to address a number of issues surrounding drug use. So what is the answer?
In my opinion, the law should remain as it stands and class A drugs in particular should not be legalised because they are undeniably extremely harmful and dangerous. Also, although the law may not address the social problems around drug use and may not provide an immediate solution, it acts as a message that drugs like heroine or cocaine should not be freely given across a counter.
Although legalisation may not be the answer, this does not mean that the way our government and society deals with the problem is correct. The way we regard drug users may well be in need of a change and it would surely be beneficial if people were encouraged into a more open debate and would consider viewing drug users not simply as criminals, but also as people who need help and compassion. Spending money on locking people up won’t make the problem go away for good, and it seems more money should be spent on drug treatment, education and information in order to tackle the problem. Fighting the problem through legalisation won’t help addicts but trying to understand the problem just might.
Picture credits; BBC; Guardian