Drugs Experts Call For Major Policy Review

Using illegal drugs is like gambling or eating junk food, the independent body that analyses drug laws has claimed as it called for a review of the Government's approach.

The final report by the UK Drug Policy Commission (UKDPC) pointed out that there are "some moderately selfish or risky behaviours that free societies accept will occur and seek to limit ... rather than to prevent entirely".

Its six-year study found much of the 3bn the UK spends annually on tackling illicit drugs is not based on evidence.

It said until the Government pursues policies based on what works, it would continue to waste public money and damage lives.

Calling for a "wholesale review" of drugs laws and the classification system, it said possession of small amounts of drugs for personal use should be made a civil offence instead of a criminal offence.

Some 42,000 people in England and Wales are sentenced each year for the possession of drugs, with about 160,000 people given cannabis warnings, the report added.

For cannabis, there was also an argument that amending the law relating to the growing of it, at least for personal use, might go some way to undermining the commercialisation of production, the UKDPC said.

The commission called for Parliament "to revisit the level of penalties applied to all drug offences and particularly those concerned with production and supply", but stopped short of calling for the decriminalisation or legalisation of most drugs.

"We do not believe that there is sufficient evidence at the moment to support the case for removing criminal penalties for the major production or supply offences of most drugs," it said.

A new approach was also needed because the rapid creation of new drugs was changing the market too quickly for the traditional methods used to control it.

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Drugs Experts Call For Major Policy Review