Pubdate: Fri, 03 Jun 2011
Source: Evening Standard (London, UK)
Copyright: 2011 Associated Newspapers Ltd.
Contact:  http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/914
Author: Sebastian Sharkesperare
Bookmark: http://mapinc.org/topic/Global+Commission+on+Drug+Policy

A WAR ON DRUGS IS A BATTLE WE CAN NEVER WIN

Dame Judi Dench, Kathy Burke, Julie Christie, Sting, Sir Richard 
Branson and Mike Leigh are all national treasures, each and every one 
of them, but what do they know about affairs of state?

All of them have just petitioned David Cameron to decriminalise the 
possession of drugs. On this occasion the celebrities are right. Even 
more persuasive voices are out there banging the drum for drugs 
legalisation: they include the ex-presidents of Colombia, Switzerland 
and Brazil, a former Secretary General of the UN and a former US 
Secretary of State.

After a century of war on narcotics, everyone concedes prohibition 
doesn't work. The only people who benefit are the drug lords. They 
harvest all the profit while crime flourishes. Meanwhile, users 
continue to die because of toxic impurities. Our courts and prisons 
are packed with young offenders, at vast cost to society and the 
taxpayer. Nearly 80,000 were last year convicted or cautioned for 
drug offences.

But nobody seems to know what to do next. Government reports are 
commissioned that recommend radical reform of drugs policy but they 
are then kicked into the long grass (excuse the herbal pun). 
Politicians are powerless to make bold decisions for fear of 
alienating voters or incurring hostile media coverage.

Surely the time has come at least to experiment with drug 
legalisation, even if only for a limited period? Heroin and cocaine 
were legal in England until the 1920s. It is far better to regulate 
and license drugs before they hit the streets. The Exchequer should 
then plough the money back into drugs education and treating addicts.

The biggest hypocrisy of modern society is that we still peddle 
nicotine and alcohol. Tobacco is addictive, causes cancer and 
emphysema. Alcohol causes liver disease. But governments haven't 
outlawed either because they can tax and regulate them. Surely they 
could do the same with other drugs? We legalised prostitution and 
homosexuality in the face of widespread opposition and moral panic - 
and society didn't collapse overnight.

As I shall never tire of telling my grandchildren, I played my own 
part in the global fight against drugs. I once worked for the Save 
the Children Fund in the Amazon and tried to introduce Indians to 
soya beans and wean them off the coca leaf (the origin of cocaine). 
The moral was self-evident: coca is bad, soya is good. But the legacy 
was disastrous. Today's mass deforestation of the Amazon is largely 
caused by Western demands for cheap soya. I deprived the Indians of a 
livelihood and contributed to the Amazon's destruction. Our war 
against drugs is alas similarly wrong-headed.

Getting saucy in the stalls

Phwoar. Alex Kingston has revealed the existence of a romping couple 
whose ambition is to make love in every West End theatre. Rob Lowe 
claims he had seen them in action at the Royal Box in Theatre Royal, 
Haymarket, during a performance of Aaron Sorkin's A Few Good Men. 
"They were right in my eyeline and at it in the middle of the show," he said.

Surely this is an urban myth? I'm not sure how reliable Lowe is as a 
witness. After all, he is famously oversexed and was involved in one 
of the most notorious scandals of the Eighties after a videotape 
emerged of him having carnal relations with two girls, one of whom was 16.

If the romping couple do exist, why haven't they cashed in on their infamy?

Often when my mind wanders in a theatre I look enviously up at the 
boxes and see heads bobbing up and down. I'm sure there's an entirely 
innocent explanation. Or it could be it's not just one couple - and 
more people are at it than we imagine.

The Games are not tickety-boo

Yes, me too. I was one of the 250,000 who missed out in the Olympic 
ticket ballot. It is curious that people were encouraged to bankrupt 
themselves in the hope of maximising their chances. Have we learned 
nothing from the past few years? This is the "greed is good" ethos. 
However, as a result of my bad luck, all my original goodwill towards 
the Olympics has now evaporated.

But I'm going to award myself a gold medal for soothsaying. In March 
last year I wrote the following words in this column when it was 
announced that Londoners would not get preferential tickets despite 
bankrolling the Games through our council tax: "In fact, I predict 
the biggest headache at the London Olympics will be not security but 
the allocation of tickets."

My winner's podium? A beach abroad next August.

Reputation management agencies are apparently on the rise. Is it any 
wonder when so many reputations are at a low ebb? Politicians, 
footballers and bankers have not exactly covered themselves in glory 
in recent times. Thank goodness as a gossip columnist I have no need 
to squander money on such an agency. A good reputation would be the 
kiss of death.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom