Brace yourself for the onslaught of common sense...
The front page of today's Independent is good news for liberals everywhere. It's about time this country had a sensible policy on drugs. At the moment, the establishment is more concerned at jailing those drug addicts who commit offences, rather than rehabilitating them, and getting them to kick their habit. This policy does not work, as addicts go out of prison still addicted to various drugs and steal (or whatever) to fund their drug habit!
In Zurich, the Indy reports, a more liberal drugs policy has seen use of heroin fall by 82%. This is because heroin is now seen as a "loser" drug, rather than a cool thing to do. By 2002, the number of heroin addicts in Zurich had fallen to 150 by 2002.
In the UK, there are 56, 000 heroin addicts, and an estimated 200, 000 users. And do you know how many heroin addicts there were before the drug here was criminalised, because of fears that it was addictive? Forty-seven.
I don't take drugs myself. Apart from tea, and a few choice musicians. But for the drug addicts there are, the broad policies of those enacted in Switzerland should be implemented here, so that they can turn their lives around. We need more liberal, lenient sentences and more rehabilitation for drug addicts; not more pandering to the right-wing press.
-posted by Roy
