CANNABIS users in County Durham who grow the drug for their own consumption will no longer be targeted by the police after the force declared the illegal activity was not a priority. In a move, which will be seen as a further step towards decriminalisation, Durham Constabulary declared it would only go after people using the drug if there was a complaint or if they were being "blatant". While the force insisted it would continue to tackle commercial cannabis farms and other areas of criminality associated with the production of the drug, those who grow and use at home will not be actively targeted and pursued. [continues 442 words]
Martha Fernback was just 15 when she took the fatal dose of ecstasy that was 91 per cent pure, and her mum Anne-Marie Cockburn believes, had regulations been in place, she might still be alive On a sunny day two years ago Anne-Marie Cockburn's phone rang. At the end of the line was a stranger who told her that her 15-year-old daughter was gravely ill and and they were trying to save her life. Martha had swallowed half a gram of white powder. [continues 935 words]
POSSESSION of all drugs, including heroin and cocaine, would be decriminalised under radical plans tabled by the Liberal Democrats today. The party's push, led by ex-police chief Brian Paddick, will attempt to ambush a Government Bill to ban the sale of legal highs when it is debated by the Lords. Under their proposals, nobody would be arrested or prosecuted for possession of drugs - even the hardest Class A substances. Instead, police 'may' ask the offender to attend a drug awareness course or treatment programme. [continues 415 words]
Chasing the Scream: The First and Last Days of the War on Drugs, by Johann Hari, is published by Bloomsbury, priced UKP18.99. A DOCTOR hounded from Britain by the establishment has revealed how he slashed heroin addiction and crime by doling out the drug to addicts. Psychiatrist John Marks now works in Vienna. But in 1982 the South Wales Valleys-raised medic was working in Widnes, in the Wirral. In a new book, Chasing the Scream: The First and Last Days of the War on Drugs, he reveals how he became the accidental pioneer of an initiative to give free heroin to addicts and that it worked. [continues 651 words]
The Hippies Drug of Choice Was Banned in 1966 but Is Now Undergoing Trials As a Cure for Depression and Addiction. Charlie Cooper Spoke to Some Volunteer Users. LSD is often associated with trippy songs such as "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds", "Purple Haze" and "White Rabbit". But before it became the drug of choice for the 1960s counterculture, lysergic acid diethylamide had a previous existence - as an experimental medicine for a broad spectrum of psychological problems ranging from depression and addiction, to schizophrenia and obsessive compulsive disorder. [continues 830 words]
Psychedelic Drugs May Have a Role in Medical Treatment On balance, you would not be in your right mind, as the saying goes, to voluntarily take psychedelic drugs. Though the long-term physical and psychological effects of LSD are sometimes exaggerated in the public mind, a bad "trip" carries risks. In a medical context, however, psychedelic drugs may be beneficial. That, after all, is where LSD and others have their origins, before their widespread abuse and subsequent prohibition. The British Medical Journal hardly populated by ageing, addled hippies - carries an article by a leading psychiatrist suggesting that a change in the law should foster more research into a neglected arm of the pharmaceutical industry, and allow the legitimate prescription of LSD and other substances where they clearly do serve a medical purpose. [continues 147 words]
Decriminalisation Would Safeguard Families and Drive the Gangs Out of Business Outside of their families and friends, few tears will have been shed for the eight heroin smugglers just executed by firing squad in Indonesia. They may have claimed to have become reformed characters in jail, but they knew the Indonesian penalty for trafficking drugs. Yet the pantomime of death played out in the full glare of the global media reminded us of two things: first, the hideous barbarity of the death penalty; and second, the dreadful futility of the war on drugs. [continues 827 words]
Astonishing claim of the arrogant cannabis campaigners who intend to light up in public THOUSANDS of illegal drug users plan to flout the law by smoking cannabis in public tomorrow. Activists who want the Class-B substance legalised will taunt police by lighting up at the 'Cannabis Celebration' in Glasgow's George Square - claiming 'they can't arrest us all'. Nearly 4,000 people have pledged to attend Scotland's biggest pro-cannabis rally in front of the City Chambers. Speakers will promote the so-called health benefits of the plant - including incredible claims it can cure cancer - as well as encouraging people to 'grow their own'. [continues 787 words]
The web's two largest drug markets go down, panicking dealers and buyers "I JUST can't bear this any longer," writes "Megan" in an anonymous internet forum. Waiting for online shopping to be delivered is frustrating. But for drug users it can be agony. Megan's vice is OxyContin, an addictive prescription painkiller. Like many users, she buys her illicit supply on the "dark web", a hidden corner of the internet accessed with anonymous browsing software. In the past month the online market for drugs has been rattled, after the two main drug-dealing sites suddenly locked buyers and sellers out. "If you know anyone...who would sort something out for me tonight or tomorrow I'll drop dead of gratitude," pleads Megan. [continues 416 words]
Fury as drugs activists get free airtime for election PRO-DRUGS campaigners in Scotland are to be given a prime-time slot on television to call for the legalisation of cannabis. A radical new political party has been set up with the sole purpose of making drugs laws more lenient. Funded by an internet millionaire, CISTA - short for Cannabis Is Safer Than Alcohol - is fielding candidates across the country in the General Election. It will be able to exploit electoral rules to air its controversial ideas, which include giving cannabis to sick children. [continues 591 words]
YVONNE MacLean left the SNP to stand for CISTA in Rutherglen and Hamilton West. The 41-year-old single mother admits being a 'criminal' for 'self-medicating' to alleviate depression with cannabis she buys from a drug dealer. Miss MacLean, of Hamilton, Lanarkshire, believes legalising the Class B drug would be 'good for the environment, the economy and the community'. She said: 'I don't think people should be criminalised for their choices. They should be trusted to use drugs sensibly and addicts should be helped. People can get addicted to coffee, cigarettes and alcohol if they have that type of personality. [continues 125 words]
Almost One in Ten Adults Admits to Using the Drug Scientists Warn of Deadly Potential Side-Effects Cocaine use, once the preserve of celebrities and the wealthy, has spread throughout British society, drug advisers say. A report by the government's Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD) found that although consumption of the drug had fallen slightly from a peak in 2008-09, its use has permeated a wide social demographic that includes the middle classes and those on lower incomes. This has been driven by the emergence of a "two-tier" market; one selling very low purity, cheaper cocaine alongside a smaller trade in a more expensive, purer version. [continues 729 words]
Further to Janet Street-Porter's column on pain-killer abuse (7 March), new research published in the Journal of the American Medical Association shows that US states with open medical marijuana access have a 25 per cent lower opioid overdose death rate than cannabis prohibition states. The protective effect grows stronger with time. States with established cannabis access showed a 33 per cent reduction in deaths. This finding has huge implications. The substitution effect was documented by California physicians long before the JAMA research. Legal cannabis access is correlated with a reduction in opioid and alcohol abuse. The cannabis plant is incapable of causing an overdose death. Not even aspirin can make the same claim, much less alcohol or painkillers. The phrase "if it saves one life" has been used to justify all manner of drug war abuses. Legal cannabis has the potential to save thousands of lives. Robert Sharpe Policy Analyst Common Sense for Drug Policy Washington, DC [end]
FACING a wipeout at the General Election, Nick Clegg is busy finding ever more desperate ways of appealing to the young voters who have abandoned his party in droves. Having betrayed them over his manifesto pledge to abolish tuition fees, his latest wheeze is to target the druggie vote by reaching out to students who smoke cannabis. The Lib Dems have pledged that personal possession and the use of drugs - not just marijuana, but even heroin - would no longer be a criminal offence. Even by Clegg's standards, this is a proposal of such reckless imbecility that it makes you wonder what he's been smoking. [continues 323 words]
Isn't it about time we acknowledged that 99 per cent of us take drugs? It's just that some are legal and therefore "acceptable". But if all drugs were defined by the harm they can cause, then the current rankings and legal penalties would be pointless. Dealing with the long-term effects of alcohol and tobacco costs the NHS far more than dealing with those addicted to class-A drugs. Apart from liver disease and heart failure, alcohol abuse causes death on the road, domestic violence, murders and absenteeism from work. Not to mention the damage to family life and relationships. Can we put on a price on all of this and be sure it's less than the cost of illegal drug use? [continues 1180 words]
Charlie Cooper Takes a Trip to Meet Professor David Nutt - and Finds Out Why the Former Government Czar Believes That Mind-Altering Drugs Have a Place on the Prescription Pad Professor David Nutt has been no stranger to controversy over the years. So the psychiatrist and former Government drugs tsar, will not have been fazed when he raised eyebrows recently by drawing a parallel between the repression of research into the effects of psychedelic drugs like LSD with the censorship of Galileo and the banning of the telescope. [continues 1114 words]
Sir Richard Branson and Nick Clegg are urging the UK to begin decriminalising the use and possession of almost all drugs, following the example of Portugal. The Virgin founder and deputy prime minister are to address a conference on fighting drug addiction today, and in an article on the Guardian website they write: "As an investment, the war on drugs has failed to deliver any returns. If it were a business, it would have been shut down a long time ago. This is not what success looks like. [continues 402 words]
A FORMER UK Government adviser has said Scots should go Dutch and open cannabis cafes. Professor David Nutt, who has advised the Department of Health, said it could be "very good" for the economy. Prof Nutt sacked by the UK Government in 2009 for saying horse riding was more dangerous than ecstasy also blasted plans to ban legal highs. Speaking ahead of a talk in Edinburgh, Prof Nutt said: "If Scotland had a sensible medical cannabis policy you'd get a lot of health tourists and that would be very good for your economy. People could have a cuppa in cafes in Edinburgh and Glasgow and have a spliff as they do in Amsterdam." [end]
George Square Event Criticised by Politicians DRUG users are planning to stage a "cannabis celebration" in Glasgow's George Square. The annual '420 event' sees campaigners gather in a public place on April 20 to call for the legalisation of the Class B drug. Last year Glasgow Cannabis Social Club held a gathering of 150 people at Glasgow Green and five were reported to the procurator fiscal for flouting the law by lighting up in full view of police. The maximum penalty for possession of cannabis is five years in prison. [continues 448 words]
CAN you put two and two together? Have a try. The authorities, and most of the media, cannot. Did you know that the Copenhagen killer, Omar El-Hussein, had twice been arrested (and twice let off) for cannabis possession? Probably not. It was reported in Denmark but not prominently mentioned amid the usual swirling speculation about 'links' between El-Hussein and 'Islamic State', for which there is no evidence at all. El-Hussein, a promising school student, mysteriously became so violent and ill-tempered that his own gang of petty criminals, The Brothers, actually expelled him. [continues 571 words]
BRITAIN'S brightest teenagers are among those most at risk of mental illness caused by smoking a potent form of cannabis, a leading expert has warned. Professor Sir Robin Murray said it tended to be 'clever and sociable' youngsters who were damaged by using the super-strong strain of the drug, known as skunk. Sir Robin, the foremost authority in Britain on the effects of smoking cannabis, led a landmark study with colleagues at the Institute of Psychiatry which found that regularly smoking skunk triples the risk of psychosis, as revealed last week by The Mail on Sunday. [continues 627 words]
Frequent use of high-potency weed might be linked to an increased risk of having a psychotic episode. But milder strains of marijuana, even when used heavily, don't appear to carry an increased risk of psychosis. Researchers got data from 410 London patients sent to the hospital for a first-episode psychotic incident and compared those numbers with data from370 control individuals living in the same area. Compared with someone who had never smoked, a weekly user of high- potency weed, defined as having greater than 15 percent THC content, was three times as likely to be diagnosed with a psychotic disorder. The researchers found no link between frequent use of low-potency weed and psychotic disorder. The findings were published Tuesday in the journal Lancet Psychiatry. [end]
As far as futile activities go, the fight against legal highs is a textbook example. According to figures released last week, police incidents involving legal highs substances sold in high street shops and on the internet, including products for the home such as "plant food", but which contain psychoactive elements that mimic the effects of cannabis, amphetamine and heroin have more than doubled in a year, The web enables ever quicker and easier access to these substances. Their cheapness and the veneer of respectability because they are nominally "legal" means that more people are eschewing illicit drugs in favour of taking the alternative. [continues 625 words]
Study Finds 60,000 Britons Are Living With Mental Illness Because of Super-Strong Drug ONE in four new cases of psychotic conditions such as schizophrenia could be the direct result of smoking extra-strong varieties of cannabis, a major new study concludes. The finding suggests that about 60,000 people in Britain are currently living with conditions involving hallucinations and paranoid episodes brought on by abuse of high-potency cannabis, known as skunk, and more than 300,000 people who have smoked skunk will experience such problems in their lifetime. [continues 802 words]
A FORMER Government drugs tsar says cannabis and ecstasy should be used to treat patients battling cancer and depression. Professor David Nutt claimed that banning certain drugs is depriving patients and doctors of "extremely useful" therapies for chronic pain and illnesses. Nutt, who was fired by the Government in 2009 for claiming horse-riding is more dangerous than ecstasy, also said there may be therapeutic benefits in legal highs. The psychiatrist added: "Let the doctors decide which drugs are harmful, not the politician." [continues 67 words]
Nearly a quarter of new cases of psychosis are linked to highpotency "skunk like" cannabis, new research shows. People who smoke superstrength cannabis are three times more likely to develop psychosis than people who have never tried the drug and five times more likely if they smoke it every day. The study, by researchers at King's College London, will fuel calls for politicians and public health officials to take a stronger stance against high potency cannabis, at a time when many campaigners are arguing for marijuana to be legalised. The researchers say there is an "urgent need" to inform young people about the risks of strong cannabis. [continues 149 words]
Nearly a quarter of new cases of psychosis are linked to high-potency "skunk like" cannabis, new British research shows. People who smoke super-strength cannabis are three times more likely to develop psychosis than people who have never tried the drug - and five times more likely if they smoke it every day. The study, by researchers at King's College London, will fuel calls for politicians and public health officials to take a stronger stance against high potency cannabis, at a time when many campaigners are arguing for marijuana to be legalised. [continues 67 words]
Smoking powerful "skunk" cannabis triples the risk of suffering a serious psychotic episode, scientists have found. The drug is linked to one quarter of all new cases of psychosis, the study revealed. The findings add to a compelling body of evidence that smoking strong cannabis "tilts the odds" towards a person developing psychosis, which leads to schizophrenia in about half of cases. The study found that people who smoked skunk every day had five times the normal risk of experiencing extended episodes in which they heard voices, suffered delusions or demonstrated erratic behaviour. [continues 171 words]
Concerning the high-rise residents at Warwick Mount (The Argus, February 7). Has Warwick Mount no lost and found box? A box could be placed discreetly with a sharps disposal box in a corner with no cameras. Think health, people. Of course people are using drugs. Don't make it more dangerous for all, make it safer. Jay Bergstrom, Forest Ranch, California [end]
Fearful residents at a council-owned block of flats found a used crack pipe at the bottom of their stairwell. The homemade pipe was found at Warwick Mount in Montague Street, Brighton, last week. The discovery is one of a number of incidents at the building that has left locals feeling concerned for their safety. They include the death of a man who was stabbed in the heart on Christmas morning. Last month a man jumped from the eleventh floor of the block to his death. [continues 293 words]
Experts have raised concerns about a thriving Twitter cannabis culture. During a single month, researchers identified more than seven million tweets referring to marijuana, with "pro-pot" messages outnumbering those opposed to the drug by 15 to one. Most of those sending and receiving "pot tweets" were under the age of 25, and many in their teens, said the team. US psychiatrist and lead author Dr Patricia Cavazos-Rehg, from the Washington University Institute for Public Health, said: "It's a concern because frequent marijuana use can affect brain structures and interfere with cognitive function, emotional development and academic performance. [continues 352 words]
On-The-Spot Saliva Test for Cannabis and Cocaine Use Approved for Use by Police Police will be able to test drivers for drugs on the roadside after the first mobile checking device was approved. The "Drugwipe" can trace cocaine and cannabis in a saliva sample within three minutes. Drivers will be tested on the spot, rather than at a police station, meaning convictions are likely to soar as the device is increasingly adopted by forces. Mike Penning, the police minister, said chief constables would now be able to roll out the Securetec DrugWipe 3S after the technology was rubber-stamped by Home Office scientists. "Drug drivers are a deadly menace and must be stopped," said Mr Penning. "Those who get behind the wheel while under the influence of drugs not only put their own lives at risk, but also those of innocent pedestrians, motorists and their passengers." The test can detect cocaine and cannabis, the substances most commonly used by drug drivers. The manufacturers also produce a test for other drugs including heroin, amphetamine and Ecstasy, but this version has not yet won Home Office backing. A positive test will show red lines, similar to a pregnancy test. In March a new drug driving law comes into force with penalties of up to six months' jail and UKP5000 fines. [end]
Almost 30,000 prisoners addicted to drugs were given a heroin substitute last year to feed their dependence, figures show. The drugs were paid for by the taxpayer and given to inmates in a bid to help them kick the habit. However inmates who are in prison for less than three months do not have time to complete the drug treatment programme, but are supplied with methadone or buprenorphine. The figures were revealed in a request by Andrew Griffiths MP to the Secretary of State. [continues 201 words]
While Federal Law Says Possession and Sale Is Still Illegal, You Can Now Buy Recreational Marijuana in Four US States Last year, on New Year's Day, I spent two hours queuing in the bone- chilling cold of a Denver January to be one of the first few people in the world legally to buy recreational cannabis over the counter. The drug has traditionally been tolerated in the Netherlands, but never truly legal. Portugal decriminalised it more than a decade ago. California legalised medical marijuana in 1996, and has since been followed by 22 other US states and Washington, DC. [continues 847 words]
Drugs the Common Denominator THE NHS is not the only organisation facing difficult decisions on funding. The same applies to the police with Sheffield-born Bernard Hogan-Howe, the Metropolitan Police's commissioner, warning that public safety will be at risk unless radical measures are taken to deal with cuts. Yet the challenges facing the NHS and the police are linked by one common denominator drugs. Misuse remains one of the biggest drains on the public purse and this scourge on society diverts vital resources away from treating the elderly, or making sure that vulnerable senior citizens remain safe in their home. [continues 121 words]
Could Cannabis Oil Reverse the Effects of Cancer? As a Film Following Six Patients Receiving the Controversial Treatment Is Released, Kate Hilpern Uncovers a Very Slippery Issue In the summer of 2012, George Wilkins, a documentary filmmaker,was in his friend's health food shop when a customer walked in, looking exceptionally ill. "He walked up to the counter and asked for hemp oil to help treat his lung cancer," explains the 29-year-old from Hull. "When I quizzed him, it turned out he was muddling hemp oil with cannabis oil. Still, I thought, why would he want that? So when I got home, I started researching it and found some quite compelling scientific evidence about the huge benefits of cannabis oil for cancer patients. Meanwhile, the health of the guy who came into the shop improved significantly within just a month of taking it." [continues 1101 words]
CHILDREN with severe epilepsy could be helped by a new treatment derived from the cannabis plant which is to be trialled in Scotland. Doctors in the UK have been given the go-ahead to test the medicine, which does not contain the ingredient that produces the high associated with recreational cannabis use. The treatment, called Epidiolex, is based on one of the nonpsychoactive components of the cannabis plant, called CBD. Early studies in the US have shown treatment may reduce the frequency and severity of seizures in children with severe forms of epilepsy. [continues 98 words]
How 'Headshop' Dealers Make Millions and a Mockery of Drug Laws by Passing Off Hallucinogenic Skunk Starter Kits As 'Souvenirs' FLASHING a smug grin as he poses proudly in a field of flourishing cannabis plants, this is the businessman responsible for allegedly flooding Britain with high-strength cannabis, fuelling a multi-millionpound market in home-grown illegal drugs. Milo Yung, who calls himself 'the Big Buddha', claims to be the founder of Britain's 'number one' brand of cannabis, which is sold around the country in colourful packets boasting of the product's 'unique high' and 'old skool taste'. [continues 1404 words]
YOUNG people are being treated in record numbers for mental health problems which have been caused by cannabis. Official figures show more than 5,000 under-25s were treated for addiction and psychiatric problems with the drug over the past year. Experts believe the rise has been caused by new strains of cannabis - known as skunk - which are more potent than those grown in the past. And they say the alarming figures might have been even worse were it not for the overall numbers of cannabis users falling. [continues 278 words]
BRITAIN is on the verge of a steep rise in young adults getting a severe form of lung disease due to regular cannabis and tobacco smoking, Welsh scientists have warned. Lung specialists have given the warning at the winter meeting of the British Thoracic Society. A study at Bangor analysed patients attending A&E with a severe and accelerated form of emphysema linked to their high use of cannabis and tobacco. Some patients were in their 30s and the whole sample had smoked five joints a day - or more for at least a decade. [continues 233 words]
When I stood as the Ukip Police and Crime Commissioner candidate in 2012 for Greater Manchester, I was a strong voice against the decriminalisation of drugs then and my view, driven by evidence, has not changed since. The reality is that decriminalising drugs would result in drug houses becoming a familiar sight in our towns, in which users would be able to indulge in poisoning there bodies LEGALLY. Drug addicts need deterrence, not encouragement from the state. The most effective deterrent must come from our judicial system. [continues 116 words]
Drug-use confessions by those in the public eye have a lot of power to shape perceptions, writes SHONA CRAVEN While most of us are well aware of how addictions shatter families and blight communities, the addict - particularly the heroin addict - remains an unfathomable "other". And while great efforts have been made in recent years to change public perceptions, that label retains an unmistakable moral, rather than medical, dimension. Any pity for a drug user with a wretched life is paired with a confidence that such a life is the product of choices we ourselves would never make. [continues 602 words]
"WE have hit their criminality hard by hitting them in their pockets as well." Those were the words of Detective Inspector Paul Fisher after a series of raids over the course of four hours on Saturday morning saw drug networks in Swindon lose out on around ?70,000 in cash and product, with eight suspects given a new bed behind bars and a number of weapons taken off the streets. Around 50 officers carried out eight warrants around the town from 9am as part of a countywide operation which saw similar raids executed in Melksham and Amesbury. [continues 904 words]
Sir Peter Fahy said he was in favour of a 'more medical approach' to dealing with drug offenders. The GMP chief constable added that 'everyone' involved in drugs policy had 'concerns' about the current approach. A Home Office report revealed there was 'no obvious' link between tough laws and drug use. It sparked a debate of decriminalisation of some or all drugs - with the report pointing to the example of Portugal, where there has been a 'considerable' improvement in the health of users since the country made possession a health issue rather than a criminal one in 2001. [continues 114 words]
Chief Constable Says Force Has Policy of Not Criminalising Children With Small Amounts of Illegal Substances ALMOST 100 pupils have been found with illegal drugs in Greater Manchester's schools over the last three years - but charges were only brought in six cases. Dozens of pupils have been caught with cannabis The vast majority of the pupils caught had cannabis, but some were discovered with class A drugs - including heroin and ecstasy. Most of the incidents related to secondary schools, although police were called to two primary schools after pupils inadvertenly brought suspicous or illegal substances in from home. Figures, obtained by the M.E.N. using Freedom of Information laws, show that Greater Manchester Police dealt with 99 drug crimes involving students at schools between January 2012 and September this year. [continues 318 words]
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. [continues 223 words]
SIR - The United States has almost twice the rate of marijuana use as the Netherlands, where the drug has been legally available for decades. The criminalisation of people who prefer marijuana to martinis has no basis in science. The war on cannabis is a failed cultural inquisition, not an evidence-based public-health campaign. It is time to stop the pointless arrests and instead legalise cannabis and tax it. Robert Sharpe Policy analyst Common Sense for Drug Policy Washington, DC [end]
SIR - Like others you write about the legalisation of the growing cannabis "industry" ("Marijuana milestone", November 8th). But the last thing this industry needs is to become like Big Tobacco. Cannabis is not an easy plant to cultivate. It requires a lot of attention and this is reflected in the price. Because sales and investment between states in America is banned it remains a local industry that maintains a high quality. There are dozens of examples of mass-produced cannabis products that are bland, tasteless reflections of what was once crafted or cultivated with care. Ewing, New Jersey [end]
CANNABIS gran Pat Tabram, who used to cook drug-laced casseroles for her neighbours, was ahead of her times, a friend has said after her death. Ms Tabram hit the headlines when her house was repeatedly raided by police after they were tipped off about the savoury smells and activities coming from her bungalow near Hexham, Northumberland. In her kitchen she would cook up home-made herbal cookies, casseroles and soups, all with the special ingredient for her friends, who she said she was medicating. [continues 320 words]
SIR The Deputy Prime Minister, Nick Clegg, claims that our "tough" drugs control policy is failing and advocates a "smarter" approach, abolishing prison sentences for drug addicts and concentrating on treatment. These and other policies dealing with offenders are not working as well as they should because of the dithering of our political leaders with regards to punishment, treatment and rehabilitation. Drug addicts and abusers should not be left out in society to fend for themselves. Some kind of custodial remedy must apply, whether it be in prison or a secure hospital. If they go back to drugs when they are released, they should be returned to custody. [continues 56 words]
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