Comments on Addiction and Recovery News: Drug policy freak show

Oops. Part of my point with the comment about buil...

2008-06-02T07:07:00.000-04:00

Oops. Part of my point with the comment about building broad public support for a policy is that you'll never get there by insulting people. The freak show kills any posibility of this.

BTW - Sweden is also pointed to as a drug policy success. There may be good reasons why Sweden's a bad model for Canada, the U.K. or the U.S., but shouldn't any serious discussion address all the potential models?

I'm not expert on the Netherlands drug policies, b...

2008-06-02T07:03:00.000-04:00

I'm not expert on the Netherlands drug policies, but it's my understanding that part of their approach has been to build broad public support for their drug policy. They do this by being responsive to public concerns, like the proximity of cafes to schools, ecstasy production within their borders, etc.

Their government reports a spike in THC content of marijuana in the Netherlands and the media recently reported on a spike in the number of people seeking treatment for marijuana dependence. It will be interesting to see if that media report is true and, if so, what the response is.

It's also my impression that, relatively speaking, they invest heavily in treatment. I've blogged here before that I'm not an ideologue, but I am queasy about decriminalisation. One way to address the concerns of people like me is to guarantee access to swift and comprehensive treatment to anyone who needs it.

I do agree the drug policy debate is highly polari...

2008-06-02T05:35:00.000-04:00

I do agree the drug policy debate is highly polarised and that it's mostly the fault of the media. Seemingly every day we see "drug horror shock" stories in the tabloid (and not so tabloid) press whilst the law reform movement is portrayed as simply wanting a "liberal" regime. This article at least went some way to redressing the balance by focussing on the evidence free way politicians make policy.

You wrote:

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...and idealized reporting of drug policy and other countries...
>>

Concerning his comments about the situation in Holland and the UK; He's right actually.

In Holland, addicts are getting older, fewer young people are being recruited and their general health is improving. In the UK prior to 1971 when we were daft enough to follow the USA into the drug war, we had what we were proud to call "The British system" of heroin maintenance and indeed, the heroin here problem was tiny. Since prohibition began to bite the problem has indeed ballooned.

If you want an example of the government's "ignorant" and "foolish" handling of the drug situation, look no further than our Prime Minister Brown's rejection of his own expert advisors regarding cannabis classification - not on the basis of proper evidence, but because he "believes" it to be right.

It is, in fairness, time to shine a highly critical spotlight on drug policy and critical reporting is the way to go. It's about time we saw some.