The report from the Home Affairs Committee on Drugs: Breaking the Cyle is a serious contribution to the debate about tackling drug use. It deserves to be read and it certainly does not merit a knee-jerk response from Government. I particularly welcome the recommendation (para. 132) for a Royal Commission to examine the issue. As regular…
I detect that attitudes towards drugs policy are starting to move, both at the international and the national level. The Home Affairs Committee in the House of Commons announced last year that it was undertaking an inquiry and invited submissions. It has now started taking evidence and has heard from Sir Richard Branson, who serves on…
The calls for a review of drugs law are becoming more numerous and from a wide political spectrum, as this post on conservativehome by Bruce Anderson demonstrates. The more the momentum develops, the more difficult it becomes for government to continue adopting a Nelsonian stance on the issue. I have also previously commented on calls…
I have previously commented on drugs policy and the need for a fundamental evidence-based review. There is a conference taking place today and tomorrow on the subject, 0rganised by the all-party group on the subject. Had it not been for teaching commitments, I would have been chairing today’s sessions. There have been added calls recently…
The Times carried a substantial article last Friday on Portugal’s approach to drugs. The Portuguese experience has been held up as a possible model for others to follow. The article, by Chris Smyth, identifies the statistics that appear to bear out the aims of the reform. Since the policy was introduced ten years ago, drug use among the…
