Report: Drugs a public health not criminal issue
(CNS): A new report by leading public health bodies in the UK is urging a fundamental shift in the approach towards the criminalising of drug use. The Royal Society for Public Health and the Faculty of Public Health are calling for the personal possession and use of all illegal drugs to be decriminalised and other measures to move the UK drugs strategy away from a criminal justice approach towards one based on public health and harm reduction.
Based on the work and research published in the report, Taking a New Line on Drugs, the experts said the UK must move on from the war on drugs, which has failed. A poll of more than 2,000 UK adults found over 56% believe drug users should be referred to treatment rather than jail and less than a quarter disagreed.
The findings in the report have the backing of parliamentarians, drug reform charities and law enforcement groups and comes ahead of the British government’s expected drugs strategy. The experts argue a new approach is needed because although drug use is falling, drug-related harm and death is rising. The experts also call for evidence-based drug education for young people in schools and moving responsibility for drugs strategy from the Home Office to the department of health and aligning more closely with alcohol and tobacco strategies.
The society and faculty are advocating for a Portuguese-style model, where users are referred to treatment and support programmes rather than charged with a crime, but producers and suppliers would still be prosecuted. International evidence suggests this could lead to significant reductions in many forms of drug-related harm, without promoting increases in problematic use.
The report argues that criminalisation itself leads directly to additional long-term health and wellbeing harm, including greater exposure to drugs in prison, severing of family relationships, and barriers to education and employment. This harm falls disproportionately on disadvantaged ethnic and socio-economic groups – who are far more likely to be charged for drug possession despite similar levels of use – exacerbating existing health inequalities.
Experts also found that criminalisation fails to address underlying substance misuse issues and discourages those with an addiction from coming forward for treatment – one in four young people say they would be put off seeking help by a drug’s illegal status.
“For too long, UK and global drugs strategies have pursued reductions in drug use as an end in itself,” said Shirley Cramer CBE, Chief Executive of RSPH in a release about the report. “Failing to recognise that harsh criminal sanctions have pushed vulnerable people in need of treatment to the margins of society, driving up harm to health and wellbeing even as overall use falls. On many levels, in terms of the public’s health, the ‘war on drugs’ has failed. The time has come for a new approach, where we recognise that drug use is a health issue, not a criminal justice issue, and that those who misuse drugs are in need of treatment and support – not criminals in need of punishment.”
Category: Health, Medical Health
With your strategy, all drug dealers can claim that their ‘users’ and it would be more difficult to convict them.
I suggest:
Mandatory 10 year minimum prison term for all drug dealers.
Mandatory 6-month rehab, dyalisis (to clean their system), public apology, 2000 hours community service for so-called drug users.
Hall of Shame Exhibit of all drugs & paraphernalia seized and the names of the users/dealers
So you’re saying that drug users aren’t criminals (even though they’re consuming ILLEGAL substances), they’re simply ‘victims’ of the drug dealers.
How much of this stuff have you been smoking yourself?
Let the people do what they want, if they want to abuse their bodies. Just do a drug screen before the person comes in for treatment and don’t allow health insurance coverage for attributable health issues. Hell, prescription drugs like Xanax and strong pain killers are prescribed like jelly beans on this island and this is all legal? When a person feels compelled to abuse it will happen.
“the facts that the old way didn’t work and the new way so far is much better but Caymanians don’t want the change tells more of the failure of one then the other.
Fine do not jail the users. Jail the dealers only. Well how else are you supposed to get the names of the dealers? I thought it was to jail the user who would then give up the names? Or are the police and investigators going through the motions and forgot why they try to capture the users?
Pure users should be hospitalized. The problem is when the users commit crimes to facilitate their drug habit. Those ones should go to jail. They should receive rehab first to get clean and the serve their time in jail for the period of time sentenced. Hospitalization should not count for time spent.
I strongly believe that once clean, those individuals should pay back the facility by helping keep others clean. Either working back the time at the rehab or prison or finding other ways to encourage others to stop abusing drugs.
Only those with a problem need to be hospitalised. I can handle mine thank you very much.
Who helps your kids then?
Ruining a teenager’s life and job prospects for the rest of their lives just for smoking some ganja is just wrong. Not only do we have to pay to jail them, but then have to support them for the rest of their lives on social security.
The war on drugs has failed, just look at the US with 50% of those in jail are their due to drugs.
What you’re Essentially saying is that we know it is wrong and we’ve been telling the children it is wrong. But because we cannot control them we should not punish them because they will get in trouble and adversely affect their life.
Stupidest rationalization for decriminizing it. Replace the drug with any other crime ( rape, burglaries, assault, drink driving), just because it happens frequently we shouldn’t put them in jail.
The parents should have taught them and if they didn’t listen, they face the consequences. You do realize in other countries they get the death penalty. These soft Caymanian children are lucky it’s only a little jail time.
I think that our attention should be on the drug dealers in wiping them out , like the first offense be a minimum of 10 years imprisonment, second offense life . If that doesn’t work then bring the death penalty back.
This one dealer is causing more damage and expence to the population and the country, but I agree that drug users should be rehabilitated , not put in prison .
Someone is reading and taking into account controlled, verified, longitudinal scientific research and saying “hey, maybe this war on drugs and imprisonment thing hasn’t worked”, so let’s try something that has been proven to be more effective?
Congrats! It’s about time.
But the report will never be out into effect because it is unpalatable in the UK or Cayman.
A huge daniel bryan YES!
You can always count on CNS for the heavily biased pro-drug/pothead commentaries. Unfortunately, whether treating people for self-inflicted ailments or sending them to jail, society is forced to pay the tab either way. History has shown Cayman has no capacity, conscience, funds, or willingness to adopt these socialist plans or evaluate those at risk, which leaves only incarceration. To illustrate how little people care about those marginalized, our churches aren’t even concerned about feeding starving local seniors and children: I wouldn’t hold your breath on sparing the crackheads jail time!
11.04, I am told on authority that you can actually have an a$$hole implant these days-might help you deal with that uptight holier than thou attitude
Good point. What are the churches doing here?
Ohhh “Human Rignts” right?