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Show caption‘It is estimated that more Americans now use cannabis than smoke
tobacco, apparently to the benefit of their health.’ Cannabis buds in
California. Photograph: Richard Vogel/AP
Opinion


SCOTTISH POLITICIANS HAVE THE COURAGE TO DECRIMINALISE DRUGS, BUT WESTMINSTER IS
TOO TIMID TO LET THEM

Simon Jenkins

Objecting to capital punishment was once taboo too. Real change comes from
politicians brave enough to speak up

Mon 10 Jul 2023 10.41 EDT
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The Scottish government declared last week that it wanted to decriminalise the
possession of drugs for personal use. Possession of drugs in Scotland remains
under the pre-devolution Misuse of Drugs Act 1971 and, as the Scottish drugs
policy minister Elena Whitham says, the current approach has “failed”. Scotland
has the highest drug mortality rate in Europe. Drug use is polluting every
public service from mental health and homelessness to welfare, policing and
imprisonment.

Scotland is supposedly in charge of these services. Yet the central government
in London absolutely refuses to allow it to touch drugs policy. It reacted to
Whitham’s announcement as though she were a lobbyist for the dealers. A
horrified Rishi Sunak rushed out a statement reinforcing his government’s “tough
stance” on drugs. An equally horrified Labour promptly agreed.



All recent attempts by Scotland to “socialise” its drug predicament have been
blocked by the Home Office. This included last year’s effort to set up
consumption and treatment centres for addicts in town centres. The UK’s home
secretary, Suella Braverman, reacted by saying that the right answer lay in
tougher laws not weaker ones. She reportedly wanted cannabis to become a class A
drug. In March she also suppressed a report supporting decriminalisation from
her own Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs, a body supposedly independent
but long purged of members thought to favour reform. Its secret report is now
dubbed a “confidential conversation with ministers”.

Not just decriminalising but legalising and regulating supply of cannabis (and,
in certain countries, other drugs) is the norm among progressive western
democracies, as offering a civilised and realistic means of controlling demand
and supply. In decriminalising cannabis, the UK trails behind the Netherlands,
Germany, Portugal, Spain, Mexico, Uruguay, Canada and South Africa, not to
mention 21 American states and cities, including California, New York City and
Washington DC. It is estimated that more Americans, roughly 55 million, now use
cannabis than smoke tobacco, apparently to the benefit of their health.
Virtually all EU countries have legalised medical cannabis, which in Britain is
controlled not by the medical authorities but by the home secretary, who has
rendered it all but unobtainable. It is like leaving education in the hands of
creationists.

Drug-testing at festivals saves lives. Why does the Home Office want to end it?
| Daisy Jones

Many of the reformist countries still experience drug problems – though few on a
par with Scotland’s. The Netherlands is pestered with drug tourists. North
America’s various regimes offer useful lessons in what not to do as well as what
to do. Colorado and Canada are worth watching. London’s mayor, Sadiq Khan, who
favours decriminalisation, might study New York, where legalisation was
introduced last year. Portugal has found that decriminalisation means what it
says: less crime, but also less addiction.



This debate is not really about drugs but about political courage. It echoes the
discussion on capital punishment in the 1960s. Then, politicians lived in mortal
fear of pro-hanging constituents, who would summon them to meetings to agree
that “hanging was too good” for criminals. Few dared advocate abolition, until a
brave home secretary, Roy Jenkins, faced down his officials and got parliament
to ban the rope.

We do not have brave ministers today. Out of office they may be reformers. But
in power they regard the Home Office as an in-house Daily Mail that can click
its fingers, summon the diehards and silence debate or reform. But Scotland
supposedly has a devolved administration. It has a devolved solution to a
devolved problem. At the very least, it should be allowed to pilot its proposal.
We might have hoped that Keir Starmer would agree. But he too lacks the guts.

 * Simon Jenkins is a Guardian columnist


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