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UK Government Report Admits Drug War Failure
(Drug War Chronicles, 7/8/05)
A study on Britain's drug strategy commissioned two years ago for Prime Minister Tony Blair and suppressed up until last week concluded bluntly that British drug prohibition has failed. . . . somebody leaked the still-suppressed section of the report to the Guardian Sunday, which promptly posted it online for all to see. The report's findings, and the Blair government's futile attempts to squelch them, are creating political waves in Britain despite London's fond wishes that the whole thing would disappear in the bright glare of the media focus on the Live 8 concert and the G8 summit taking place in Scotland. . . . [COMMENT by Lorenzo: Isn't it convienent how many hot issues disappeared with yesterday's terrorist attacks on London. It makes one wonder who benefits the most from these dastardly activities, doesn't it?] . . . its disconcerting revelation that police would have to intercept up to 80% of drugs entering Britain to affect dealers' profit margin (seizure rates are 20% at best, the report noted), it is little wonder the Blair government didn't want the report to ever see the light of day. Its grim conclusion that even if prohibitionist measures succeeded in driving up prices, the victory would be phyrric because problem drug users would commit more crimes to obtain their drugs, only added to the government's desire to bury the report. . . . "What this report shows and what the government is too paranoid to admit is that the 'war on drugs' is a disaster," said Liberal Democrats' home affairs spokesman Mark Oaten in a statement responding to stories in the Guardian, the Observer, and other newspapers. "We need an evidence-led debate about the way forward but if they withhold the evidence we can't have the debate." . . . "Now that the report has been leaked, we can all see that the Government was trying to pull the wool over our eyes. The Information Commissioner must investigate the way in which the report was slipped out hours before Live 8. This government seems unable to face up to its public duty and let people see the information they are entitled to see. We cannot allow ministers to continue to bury bad news." . . . And it's not just opposition politicians who are raking the Blair government's drug policies. "The leaked report from the Birt think tank is devastating proof of the futility of prohibition," Labor Party Member of Parliament Paul Flynn, a long-time critic of drug prohibition, told DRCNet. . . . The Birt report's conclusion, which also addressed consumption issues covered in the first half of the report, is hard to sugarcoat: "The drugs supply market is highly sophisticated, and attempts to intervene have not resulted in sustainable disruption to the market at any level," the group declared. "As a result the supply of drugs has increased, prices are low enough not to deter initiation, but prices are high enough to cause heavy users to commit high levels of crime fund their habits." . . . The Birt report presents British lawmakers and voters alike with a stark choice: Continue down the path of prohibition with no real prospect of success, or find a better way that reduces instead of increases the harm to both drug using individuals and the societies of which they are an inescapable part.

posted by LoZo 11:44 AM