There are many things that make me angry in British politics, but I don’t think any of them make me angrier than the way that most British politicians refuse to have an intelligent conversation about drugs. Here’s a case in point. The Commons home affairs select committee are holding an inquiry into drugs policy. Yesterday,… Continue reading Talking About Drugs
Tag: drugs
MPs and Facts
When an MP is in a discussion and mentions a fact to back up their argument, it would be nice if you knew that you could trust that fact. Unfortunately that’s often not the case. To pick an example at random, here’s Nadine Dorries from last week’s Any Questions (the link will work for a… Continue reading MPs and Facts
Good Drugs vs Bad Drugs
There’s been a lot of talk about drugs over the last few days. Most of the commentary has been of the usual desultory level. It’s almost as though people don’t want to have a serious and focussed debate on the dangers of drugs. There are two facts in particular that almost never get mentioned. And… Continue reading Good Drugs vs Bad Drugs
He Blinded Me With Science
The story so far: In January 2004, in an astonishing display of common sense the government downgraded cannabis to a class C drug. This didn’t play well in the shires and in January 2009 it was reclassified as Class B. Last week, Professor David Nutt, head of the government’s Advisory Council on the Misuse of… Continue reading He Blinded Me With Science
Decriminalising Cannabis
Last week the Home Secretary, David Blunkett, announced that cannabis we be downgraded to a class C drug in the UK’s legal classification of drugs. The effect of this change will be that possession of small amounts of cannabis will be effectively decriminalised. This follows an experiment along these lines in Lambeth over recent months.… Continue reading Decriminalising Cannabis