Pubdate: Sun, 20 Jan 2013
Source: Daily Express (UK)
Copyright: 2013 Northern and Shell Media Publications
Contact:  http://www.express.co.uk/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/145
Author: Camilla Tominey

PENALISING DRUG-USERS IS CRIMINAL

BARONESS Meacher has been lambasted for suggesting that youngsters
switch from alcohol to "safer" drugs but the statistics suggest she
makes a good point. Official estimates show there have been 200 deaths
linked to Ecstasy here since 1996. That is about 12 deaths a year, or
one a month.

Between 2009 and 2010 there were 8,790 alcohol-related deaths. That is
732 a month. Meanwhile, on average, smoking kills 80,000 every year.

Just because it is more socially acceptable, drinking is by no means a
safer pastime for teenagers than taking drugs. In an ideal world, it
would be better if they did neither but, as the saying goes, "kids
will be kids". (Both are illegal to under 18s but that does not stop
them).

At least Meacher, who chairs the All-Party Parliamentary Group for
Drug policy Reform, is not in denial like so many politicians. The
Prime Minister, who has never been brave enough to admit to taking
drugs in the past ("I did a lot of things before I came into politics
that I shouldn't have done, we all did." David Cameron, September
2005) continues to resist decriminalisation despite all the evidence
pointing to it being a good idea.

Why? Because he knows it will be a vote loser among a middle-class
that has been hysterical about drugs since Leah Betts died in 1995.
Although I credit that picture of Leah in a coma with putting me off
hard drugs for life, it created a number of misconceptions about Ecstasy.

A subsequent inquest found that the 18-year-old did not die from
taking the drug but as a result of the 1d gallons of water she drank
in the 90 minutes afterwards. This led to water intoxication and
hyponatremia, which caused serious swelling of her brain, from which
she never recovered.

One death from drugs is too many but let's put it into perspective: it
is nowhere near as big a problem as binge drinking in Britain.

Moreover, since when did you hear of A&E departments being choked with
youngsters drugging out on a Friday night or police being called to an
Ecstasy-related incident?

Meacher, who is calling for the possession and use of heroin, Ecstasy
and crack cocaine to be decriminalised, wants licences to be issued to
chemists to sell so-called "legal highs". She told Radio 4's Today
programme last week: "If young people are going to buy these things,
is it not better that they know exactly what is in them and that they
won't be contaminated?"

Yes, it is. The same should apply to cannabis. If teenagers are going
to smoke spliffs, surely it is preferable that the super skunk
associated with psychosis is properly weeded out (pardon the pun)?

DECRIMINALISATION is not the same as legalising drugs. Drugs are not
legal in Portugal, where decriminalisation was introduced in 2001.
Instead it has a system of not penalising drug users who enter special
programmes designed to end their habit. The policy has proved a
resounding success.

Portugal now boasts the lowest rate (10 per cent) of lifetime
marijuana use in people over 15 in the EU. The rate of HIV infections
caused by sharing dirty needles has also declined while the number of
people seeking treatment for addiction has more than doubled. It has
saved the government money because treatment is cheaper than
incarceration.

Last week the British Medical Association called on the Government to
put "health" at the heart of its future drugs policy, warning that
criminalisation was deterring users from seeking help.

If that is the case, what is the point of jailing drug-users? The
money would be better spent on weaning addicts off drugs for good and
properly educating teenagers not only of the dangers of drugs but the
comparative damage done by binge drinking.

It is time to stop scaremongering and let the figures speak for
themselves. 
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MAP posted-by: Jo-D