Thank you for your comments. I appreciate this is an area that people often have strong feelings about and I am grateful for your measured words. I will try and address your comments:

“What do you think we will gain as a civilisation if we continue to tolerate drug use and happily watch their use rise and rise? Do you really think it’s a good thing that children grow up in an environment where taking drugs is something that people do – and are in many cases stigmatised as ‘nerds’ if they don’t?”

Drug use has been rising and rising for 40 years. In 1971 when then Misuse of Drugs Act was instituted there were a few hundred heroin addicts in the UK, now there are a few hundred thousand, a thousand-fold increase. Children already grow up in an environment with taking drugs is something people do. The current laws have not stopped that. In some areas it is actually easier for children to get hold of illegal drugs than it is to get hold of alcohol. That is because as a society through our laws we have gifted control of the market to criminals who don’t care who their customers are.

“It’s easy for the middle-classes to say that taking drugs is a personal choice but people who live in deprived areas don’t have any choice about their communities being infested with drug use. Please don’t give me the usual nonsense about the problems arising from drugs being due to their being illegal. A child born addicted to drugs does not have any choice and we would see more of this if drugs were made legal.”

It is debatable whether we would see more of the sort of desperate and tragic scenario you outline if drugs were legalised (and regulated). Portugal decrimininalised all drugs 8 years ago and drugs use has actually gone down (See http://www.mattwardman.com/blog/2009/07/24/what-can-portugals-decriminalisation-experience-teach-us/).

You also say that the idea of many of the problems arising from drugs being caused by their illegality is nonsense but I am afraid I beg to differ. I don’t have time to go into all the detail of why I think this now but can I suggest a good and useful resource for reading about this issue is the “Transform Drugs Policy Foundation” website? I broadly agree with their analysis and aims. Their FAQ is a good place to start and covers this particular point: http://www.tdpf.org.uk/AboutUs_FAQ.htm

“It seems to be completely illogical that we crack down on ‘evil drug dealers’ but tolerate drug use.”

Taking drugs out of the control of criminal gangs is vital. All the “crack downs” result in is either temporarily driving the price up in the locale where the arrests are made and hence increasing crime and/or plenty more criminals are ready to step in and exploit the gap in the market. If drugs were under state control this would no longer be necessary.

Honestly, though, I can scarcely even be bothered to type this, since there is not the slightest chance of significant policy change happening. The debate is entirely framed by dishonest and hysterical coverage in the bulk of the popular press, where one bereaved mother trumps endless volumes of serious research. To challenge this would require politicians with real gumption. Fat chance.

What do you think we will gain as a civilisation if we continue to tolerate drug use and happily watch their use rise and rise? Do you really think it’s a good thing that children grow up in an environment where taking drugs is something that people do – and are in many cases stigmatised as ‘nerds’ if they don’t?

It’s easy for the middle-classes to say that taking drugs is a personal choice but people who live in deprived areas don’t have any choice about their communities being infested with drug use. Please don’t give me the usual nonsense about the problems arising from drugs being due to their being illegal. A child born addicted to drugs does not have any choice and we would see more of this if drugs were made legal.

It seems to be completely illogical that we crack down on ‘evil drug dealers’ but tolerate drug use.