Pubdate: Mon, 01 Dec 2014
Source: Manchester Evening News (UK)
Copyright: 2014 Manchester Evening News
Contact:  http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1313
Author: Nick Buckley
Note: chief executive of charity the Mancunian Way, which works to 
reduce crime and anti-social behaviour among young people
Page: 4

HISTORY SHOWS US PROHIBITION OF DRUGS DOESN'T WORK...

ILLEGAL drug use has become a social norm now.

You can walk through Manchester city centre any day of the week and 
within minutes you will smell cannabis. And that's in the city 
centre, never mind the estates, where people are smoking it like they 
would drink a cup of tea. I see kids walking to school at 8am smoking spliffs.

It's pretty clear that the war on drugs has been a failure. History 
teaches us that prohibition doesn't work.

The criminalisation of class A drugs just feeds drug barons and 
gangsters, who have been able to take over this very lucrative 
business because it has been criminalised.

It comes down to personal choice. Should drugs be illegal, enhancing 
drug cartels and creating low level crime? Or should drugs be 
legalised and sold in chemists, with guaranteed quality, instructions 
on how much to take and taxed? This takes the gangs out of the 
equation and the tax could then be used to rehabilitate drug users.

Removing the criminality gives us a better chance of dealing with the 
problems. I'm not in favour of complete legalisation - a free-for-all 
that just legalises what the gangsters are doing. But I believe all 
drugs should be decriminalised, and sold through chemists under close 
control of the government. We need to make sure, if people want to 
buy drugs, they do it in a safe way without having to deal with gangsters.

People will argue that decriminalisation will encourage more people 
to take drugs. You can buy them on any street corner in the UK anyway.

This is an extremely political issue but none of the parties will 
risk taking it on because they will be slammed by people, including 
in the media, who have no understanding of the topic.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom