An open letter urging the UK authorities to rethink its proposals for harsher drug penalties, has been signed by 500 public well being and legal justice consultants.
Main public our bodies together with the College of Public Well being, Police Basis and the British Medical Affiliation, have expressed ‘severe issues’ over proposals set out by the Residence Workplace earlier this 12 months to introduce harder penalties for minor drug offences.
The ‘Swift, Certain, Tough: New Consequences for Drug Possession’ white paper, launched in July 2022, sets out the federal government’s proposals for a three-tier framework for drug possession offences, together with hashish.
Specializing in what it describes as ‘so-called leisure customers’, the method might see repeat offenders threat having their driving licence or passport confiscated by regulation enforcement.
In an open letter UK drug reform organisations, Launch, and Rework Drug Coverage have condemned the proposals which they are saying go in opposition to an ‘overwhelming physique of proof’ and would ‘exacerbate a variety of social and well being harms’ by criminalising a few of the most susceptible folks in society.
“The Residence Workplace’s personal analysis has said that the £1.6 billion a 12 months spent on drug regulation enforcement has little impression on drug availability,” the letter states.
“Punishment and criminalisation of people that use medicine has repeatedly been proven to undermine well being and life alternatives of probably the most susceptible people and communities, fuelling stigma and discrimination, and creating obstacles to confirmed well being and social interventions.”
It additionally highlights how a rise in punitive policing concentrating on those that use medicine would require a ‘scaling up’ of policing, together with cease and searches which disproportionately impression marginalised and ethnic minority communities, significantly Black folks.
The letter provides: “These proposals will additional undermine belief in regulation enforcement and already-strained group police relations.”
A public well being method to medicine
As a substitute, the organisation’s urge ministers to develop a ‘genuinely public well being centred method’, knowledgeable by rising proof internationally and right here within the UK.
Fourteen police forces throughout the UK already function diversion programmes, which give these caught in possession of medicine resembling hashish and cocaine the prospect to endure schooling or remedy programmes quite than going through criminalisation.
Durham Police Power, within the north east of England, is considered one of the vital profitable, having stopped concentrating on hashish customers and small-scale growers since 2015 so as to focus its assets elsewhere.
In the meantime The Telegraph reported this weekend that The Nationwide Police Chiefs’ Council and School of Policing are already drawing up proposals for a nation-wide initiative.
The letter has been supported by 500 organisations and people within the fields of public well being and legal justice. These embody the Affiliation of Administrators of Public Well being, Public Well being College, NHS Addictions Supplier Alliance, School of Psychological Well being Pharmacy and The Felony Justice Alliance. You possibly can see the total listing here
Andre Gomes, head of communications at Launch, says the help for the letter demonstrates the necessity for change with regards to the UK’s method to medicine.
“This open letter is, as soon as once more, proof that the Residence Workplace prefers to wage an ideological battle on individuals who use medicine, quite than hearken to tons of of public well being and legal justice consultants,” he instructed Hashish Well being.
“It’s been improbable to have a lot help for a sorely wanted change to the UK’s drug coverage system. It goes to indicate how, within the face of a lot world proof that non-prohibitionist approaches to drug management enhance well being and financial outcomes, the UK continues to decide on to lag behind.
“By selecting a extra punitive method to drug use, these already residing in additional disadvantaged areas of the nation, in addition to ethnic minority communities, will proceed to endure by the hands of the Conservatives.”
Earlier this 12 months, calls from Conservative police and crime commissioners (PCCs) for hashish to be reclassified as a Class A, with harsher penalties for these caught in possession, had been supported by the Residence Secretary Suella Braverman.
READ MORE: ‘Tone deaf’ requires hashish to be Class A solely gasoline worry, stigma and misinformation
Session on the white paper has now closed and the Residence Workplace says it will likely be publishing its response sooner or later.
A spokesperson mentioned: “Medicine spoil lives and devastate communities which is why the Authorities is dedicated to tackling each the availability and demand for medicine, as set out within the 10-year Drug Technique.
“Our White Paper on new, harder penalties for drug possession set out proposals for tackling demand and we now have welcomed views on this. We can be publishing our response sooner or later.”