The news story "End war on drugs, says Durham police chief Mike Barton" (2013) reports that, although strongly agreeing that all addictions are harmful to addicts, British police constable Mike Barton has proposed legalizing even the strongest and most addictive drugs since the policy of making their sale and use illegal has been a failure ever since it began decades ago. Barton argues that current law harms society and drug using citizens whilst enriching criminal gangs, and that making drugs such as heroin and cocaine legal would be more beneficial for society and citizens.
I have long thought exactly what Police Constable Barton has now very clearly and strongly said. The evidence we see in the newspapers daily shows that current drug policy is a total failure. Illegal drugs are being seized by police, but they keep coming. The drug laws are not reducing the amount of drugs in society, and I don't think there is any good evidence that the current drugs laws of Thailand, for example, are reducing the number of people who use drugs such as heroin, yaa baa, marijuana and so on.
These strong anti-drug laws are certainly popular, however. I remember when Thaksin Shinawatr launched his campaigns to end illegal drug use in Thailand, resulting in over 2,000 deaths of Thai citizens, that it was very popular, and I suspect that many ordinary Thai people do still approve of such actions by the police and other government officials. I hope I'm wrong, but I don't think I am. Strong anti-drug laws do seem to me very popular in Thailand and many other countries, although this might be starting to change in my own country, in the US and, as shown by Police Officer Barton, in the UK. And this is a good thing.
If we look at the evidence, I don't think it has ever supported current drug laws. Since the drug supply and number of drug users, addicts and non-addicts, has not been reduced by making any drug illegal, these laws are a failure. And Barton gives more positive reasons against such drug laws, arguing persuasively that they actually cause very real harm to both society and to citizens by, for example, allowing criminal mafia gangs to make fortunes, which they can then use to corrupt police, courts and politics, and by making it more difficult to help citizens who need it. In fact, I think the harm to society and to decent citizens is much greater than the article reports Barton saying, but it is encouraging to hear a voice of reason, honesty and sanity when almost all police, other officials and politicians continue to support doing exactly the same thing that is a proven failure. Do they expect their expensive failure to suddenly become a success? That is insanity.
Barton is right: it's time to end the insane addiction to failure that characterizes most countries' response to recreational drug use by informed and decent adult citizens.
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Reference
Further supporting Barton is the BBC News story published only yesterday, October 1, on a British Medical Journal Open academic paper by medical researchers which uses international data from 1990 to 2010 to convincingly argue exactly what Barton and I think, that the various popular "War On Drugs" campaigns have been complete failures that have in fact caused great harm to society and individuals (2013).
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War on illegal drugs failing, medical researchers warn. (2013, October 1). BBC News UK. Retrieved October 2, 2013 from http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-24342421
Since there is no disagreement, does that mean everyone agrees completely with Police Constable Barton and myself that all drugs, including heroin and yaa baa, should be legalized for adults to sell, buy and use?
ReplyDeleteI think addictive drugs(heroine, yabaa and so forth) shouldn't be legally buy and use because why people have to use these drugs? They are not good for health and cause a lot of negative consequences. I sad when I heard about death sentences for drug dealers in neighbor countries, but I think they know what is the outcome to do that illegal behavior.
DeleteThank you Four. I'm glad someone has a reason to disagree with me.
DeleteI'm not saying I agree with Four's reason, but it is the right sort of reason and if I want to support my idea, I must answer Four's opposing argument. Can someone who agrees with me help me to do this?
Four's argument is that if some thing, X, is "not good for health and cause a lot of negative consequences", then it should be illegal. He has stated his principle very clearly, so I've copied and pasted his words.
DeleteWe now need to test this idea with a couple of other examples to see whether we really do agree with it or not.
First, lets look at ice-cream.
Is ice-cream good for health? No, it is not. In fact, ice-cream contributes to obesity, blood sugar imbalance, and all the negative consequences that go with these - heart disease, diabetes, and so on, all of which result in costs to society from higher health care expenses, early death, and the like.
It appears that Four's reason for making some drugs illegal must also mean that people who make and deal in ice-cream have to be thrown into prison, and that ice-cream eaters must be arrested and given criminal records.
I'm not sure that I agree with this. And that suggests that there is a problem in the reason that Four has suggested for making some, but not all, popular drugs illegal.
I think that the question Four asks is also worth thinking about: Why do people use drugs?
DeleteAnd there are perhaps some related questions you might also like to respond to.
Or if you agree with Four, do you have any other supporting reason for that opposing idea to mine?
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