The War on Drugs (part 1)

It's time for a change in the way we wage war on drugs. It's time for an open debate about whether the the money we're spending and the attention we're giving this issue is really worthwhile or even justified.

Cannabis, Heroin, Ecstasy, Cocaine and countless other substances are illegal in this country and have been for generations. Clearly the intention behind this prohibition is to eliminate or severely restrict their usage among citizens of the state. But how effective is this system? The harsh reality is that there are drug users in this country, there are drug dealers in this country and there are trade routes stretching from Bradford to Bogotá. Perhaps more significant is the cold hard fact that these illegal substances are easily obtained. There are no 'inner rings', you want drugs - you get drugs.

The availability of banned substances is something that became more and more apparent to me during my time at university in Manchester. The sheer ease in which they can be obtained in a city centre would shock many. Banned substances are freely available or made available to you, making an ass of the law which purports to stem their flow.

So who provides them? Clearly you don't pick them up over the counter at the Boots in Leeds railway station.

The people who make big money from their sale are the ones who control, oversee and secure their route in to the country. The more advanced our techniques in detecting possession at airports and checkpoints, the more shrewd and imaginative the smugglers become. We are failing to keep substances the government has abolished out of the country.

It's the lad in the gents toilet, it's the bloke stood outside the train station, it's the bouncers employed to keep it out of the clubs. Typecasting and piecing together a media-friendly picture of a dealer is impossible as their guises are numerous and varied. The one thing they do have in common? They have absolutely no regard for your well-being.

Another way to look at the current nonsensical legal model is through the cigarette analogy. If cigarettes were made illegal in the UK tomorrow, would the 12 million or so smokers that inhabit this island quit? Some might, sure, but what of those that don't want to quit? A black market would spring up overnight to meet their needs. Those trade routes that brought us the narcotic delights we know and love would now carry the finest cigarettes Colombia has to offer. After all, smokers are a captive market.

Once we acknowledge that the current method of controlling drug use in this country is fundamentally flawed, we can move forward with the debate. Namely, drug use as a civil right, the cash generated, the impact on communities, parity with alcohol and nicotine and the the common conceptions and misconceptions about their threat to our health.