The War is Lost: UK Drug Policy
With a revised Drug Strategy released in 2017 the UK’s position on drugs remains, at least in part, focused on criminalisation. Its clear limitations in funding and focus create a strategy that does little to address a real-world solution for drug misuse in the UK.
UK Politics
Sophie Savage
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Criminalisation has been at the heart of drug legislation for almost five decades now. Yet since 2016, the Royal Society for Public Health, the Faculty of Public Health and the British Medical Journal have all openly criticised the UK’s drug policy. With a broad criticism from the health community it may be time to move away from criminal justice and turn our attention to other ways to handle drug misuse.
Currently, UK drug policy, characterised by the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971, places a complete ban on the possession, supply, manufacture, export and import of controlled drugs. Under the same act drugs are then classified from Class A to C, depending on the harm caused to the user or society by their misuse, with Class A drugs carrying the most severe sentences.
Criminalisation has been the focal point of UK drug policy since the 1970s. It’s safe to assume that this relatively unchanged legislation must be effective in targeting drug misuse. This conclusion, however, could not be further from the truth.
‘…deaths related to drug misuse are at their highest since records began in 1993.’
Statistics published in 2017 by NHS Digital show that both hospital admissions and deaths related to drug misuse in 2015/16 had significantly increased from 2005/06. The same report shows that deaths related to drug misuse are at their highest since records began in 1993. These statistics clearly point to the inefficacy of UK drug policy.
Whilst evidence seems to highlight the ineptitude of criminalisation, the UK’s 2017 Drug Strategy, published in July of this year, does seemingly little to recognise this. The strategy is not completely without merit as it does, in part, focus on rehabilitation and education surrounding drug misuse. Yet, with a history of cuts plaguing drug treatment initiatives and the continued importance given to criminal justice, the strategy still has a long way to go.
Andy Burnham, the mayor of Greater Manchester, labelled the new strategy as ‘hollow’. This was a comment on the strategies failure to secure more funding, most notably, for 999 services. Burnham further highlighted flaws in the revised strategy, stating, ‘We can’t be expected to do all of these new things without any more funding.’
‘58% of residential drug services reported a fall in funding.’
The problem of funding for the UK’s approach to drugs is further exacerbated by the clear pattern of cuts to rehabilitation and treatment services since 2014. Blenheim reported that in 2015 drug and alcohol treatment services, both community and residential providers, reported a reduction in funding they received. Their 2015 report goes on to state that 58% of residential drug services reported a fall in funding. So whilst the government’s attempt to emphasis treatment in the revised drug strategy seems positive, the trend of defunding of services required to carry out this treatment paints the new emphasis as an empty promise rather than a real commitment to a shift in how the UK handles drug misuse.
Whilst funding issues clearly plague the revised strategy, the emphasis on criminal justice remains to be an issue. With no real world commitment being made to pivot our policy to rehabilitation, the only concrete part of the strategy that remains is the continued prosecution of drug offences.
This focus on drug misuse as a criminal issue has previously been heavily criticised by the Royal Society for Public Health, stating that a ‘fundamental reorientation of policy towards public health and away from criminal justice” is essential to target harm caused by drug misuse. This idea has been further echoed by Norman Lamb, the Liberal Democrat Health Minister. Lamb argued that the war on drugs has criminalised young people and unleashed gang violence; he further stated that the strategy should have been released by the Health Secretary rather than the Home Secretary.
The problem with framing drug misuse as a criminal rather than health issue is that it creates an inescapable cycle of drugs, crime and re-offending. Criminal records are undoubtedly a barrier to employment and, as such, a barrier to a legitimate form of income for former-sellers. This then pushes those with convictions back into drug related crime.
Similarly, prosecution for drug users can have a similar effect. Fear of prosecution could prevent sufferers from seeking help and treatment — this spurns continued use and adds to related criminal offences, such as theft, so users can attempt to keep up with their addiction.
These sentiments about current drug policy have been echoed by the Faculty of Public Health and the Royal Society of Public Health who have both said that criminalising drugs ‘leads to greater long-term harm by causing users to be excluded from employment and education, as well as exposing them to more drugs in prison’, as reported by The Telegraph in 2016.
The war on drugs seems to be lost. Yet whilst the 2017 Drug Strategy seems to acknowledge this with a renewed focus on rehabilitation, a lack of funding and continued emphasis on criminal justice suggests that they are continuing to fight a losing battle. With building pressure from health organisations to re-orientate drug policy it remains to be seen whether the UK government will ever recognise the ineptitude of criminalisation.
