Brit Pols on Drugs
Here are two recent posts I authored on my organization's blog, The D'Alliance. Hopefully, I will be a regular writer on drug policy related issues in that forum, as there's so very much to address on a daily basis. This forum will contain more strident verbiage, as well as material totally unrelated to drug policy. There will be a good (and more frequent) mix of material in the coming months here on NikosNotes, time permitting. My blog "to do" list is long -- so long that I don't really know where to begin.
Socialists are Good (At Least in Scotland... on Drug Policy)
In last week's election, the Tony Blair's Labour majority was whittled to 66 seats. Most commentators suggest that Prime Minister's support for the war in Iraq was a critical factor in losing many of those seats, especially those lost to the Liberal Democratic Party.
Watching selected election results on C-SPAN, I admired the way that all party candidates, even those of "minor" status, stood on a common platform vote tallies were issued. Each wore a ribbon representing his or her respective party, and in the case of a party known as LOONY many ribbons were on display.
I was also envious of the British electorate for having the privilege of a real multi-party system, something that neither Democrats nor Republicans will counsel in this country in any meaningful fashion.
The Economist featured a blurb recently noting that an organization that monitors the political preferences of drug users, the International Drug Monitoring Unit, found that the Green Party and the Liberal Democratic Party were the top choices. Most recent data can be found here.
This led me to evaluate the party platforms -- they are called "manifestos" in the UK -- of every major political party in the as it related drug policy. As with most platforms, they are hardly worth the paper they're printed on (or the pixels where they appear).
The verbiage from Labour and Conservative quarters were typically bland, but somewhat ominous. Conservatives called for rescheduling of cannabis to a higher level in British law, while Labour called for increased drug testing of all offenders. It must be pointed out that the Labour government is highly keen on the twin evils of drug testing and drug-sniffing dogs in the schools.
Enter the Scottish Socialist Party, which has exactly zero members in either the UK or the Scottish parliament. Like the Libertarians and Greens here at home, they have the good fortune to be able to focus on issues as issues.
I am not usually in the position of praising socialists or socialism. Ludwig von Mises had it right as far back as the 1920s, noting that is inherently unworkable as an economic system (chiefly due to the lack of an accurate pricing system) that also lends itself to nakedly authoritarian forms of political organization.
That said, I will let the SSP speak for itself, and I agree with the following analysis it its entirety:
The continued harassment and imprisonment of cannabis users is a vast waste of the time and resources of police, courts and social services. Virtually every study undertaken has found that cannabis is less dangerous than alcohol or tobacco. The time and money devoted to this futile crusade to clamp down on cannabis would be better spent fighting poverty and the root causes of drug misuse....
As well as having a serious illegal drugs problem, Scotland also has an even more serious alcohol problem. A huge proportion of violent incidents, including murder, serious assault and domestic brutality is rooted in alcohol abuse.
Alcohol abuse is also a colossal drain on the resources of the NHS and is a major contributory factor to the third world levels of life expectancy for working class men in some parts of the country....
In the long term, we want to build a society where instant oblivion to blot out the reality of everyday life is a less attractive option. In the meantime we will campaign for improved treatment and rehabilitation services for those suffering from alcohol and drug addiction.
I must say, these Socialist Scots are spot on!
+ + + + +
Liberal Democrats are Good Too (But Not as Good as the Scottish Socialists)
I know that the UK election is old news now, and for most Americans it was no news at all. The Liberal Democrats' platform was silent on drug policy, but it does endorse drug policy reform that is far and above anything coming out of the Labour or Conservative parties.
In fact, in the closing stages of the campaign, The Guardian reported that Tony Blair was nothing less than an utter demagogue the issue:
[T]he prime minister will renew his assault on the Liberal Democrats' drugs policy, which he believes would "signal to criminal gangs that Britain was soft on drugs and weak on crime," if they were ever implemented.
Writing in The Sun newspaper, he says the Liberal Democrats are committed to handing down non-custodial sentences to people caught in possession of heroin or crack cocaine.
"I have spent eight years fighting the war against drugs in our country," he said. "Charles Kennedy has called on voters to send a message to me and the government. I believe a vote for the Lib Dems would send a message that Britain is going soft on drugs."
So I guess that the Crown Prince of "New Labour," which is not so new anymore, has the same love for Laura Norder and inflamming the fear of the masses that would find him at home in either the Democratic or Republican party. Caustic rhetoric in the pursuit of more votes is never, ever a political vice.
The Liberal Democrats did issue a short paper on drug policy reform. Most of it is rather staid -- engaging in doses of what I brand "bureaucratese" -- and it certainly does not have the rhetorical gusto of the Scottish Socialist platform. But in comparison to their principal competition, it is nothing short of remarkable. Money quote:
Liberal Democrats believe the current emphasis on criminal sanctions for users actually makes the problem worse: it exacerbates the adverse consequences of drug use; it brings many young people, who would otherwise be law-abiding, into contact with both the criminal world and the criminal justice system; it undermines more promising strategies for minimising harmful drug use; and it diverts large public resources which could be better employed.
Liberal Democrats believe the time has come to reform the approach to drugs policy, so that there is an intelligent range of responses, with the emphasis on education, treatment for addiction and harm reduction strategies rather than blanket prohibition, but retaining criminal sanctions where justified.
A major political party actually embraces harm reduction?!? Take that, Mark Souder! The two-page document (pdf) is here. Thanks to The Guardian's blog on Election 2005, specifically on "Labour's Drugs Problem."
[For those of you out there in Delano, Charles Kennedy is the leader of the Lib Dem party. Yes, I am intentionally ripping off Rush Limbaugh, but using a different city in Central California to pick on...]
Socialists are Good (At Least in Scotland... on Drug Policy)
In last week's election, the Tony Blair's Labour majority was whittled to 66 seats. Most commentators suggest that Prime Minister's support for the war in Iraq was a critical factor in losing many of those seats, especially those lost to the Liberal Democratic Party.
Watching selected election results on C-SPAN, I admired the way that all party candidates, even those of "minor" status, stood on a common platform vote tallies were issued. Each wore a ribbon representing his or her respective party, and in the case of a party known as LOONY many ribbons were on display.
I was also envious of the British electorate for having the privilege of a real multi-party system, something that neither Democrats nor Republicans will counsel in this country in any meaningful fashion.
The Economist featured a blurb recently noting that an organization that monitors the political preferences of drug users, the International Drug Monitoring Unit, found that the Green Party and the Liberal Democratic Party were the top choices. Most recent data can be found here.
This led me to evaluate the party platforms -- they are called "manifestos" in the UK -- of every major political party in the as it related drug policy. As with most platforms, they are hardly worth the paper they're printed on (or the pixels where they appear).
The verbiage from Labour and Conservative quarters were typically bland, but somewhat ominous. Conservatives called for rescheduling of cannabis to a higher level in British law, while Labour called for increased drug testing of all offenders. It must be pointed out that the Labour government is highly keen on the twin evils of drug testing and drug-sniffing dogs in the schools.
Enter the Scottish Socialist Party, which has exactly zero members in either the UK or the Scottish parliament. Like the Libertarians and Greens here at home, they have the good fortune to be able to focus on issues as issues.
I am not usually in the position of praising socialists or socialism. Ludwig von Mises had it right as far back as the 1920s, noting that is inherently unworkable as an economic system (chiefly due to the lack of an accurate pricing system) that also lends itself to nakedly authoritarian forms of political organization.
That said, I will let the SSP speak for itself, and I agree with the following analysis it its entirety:
The continued harassment and imprisonment of cannabis users is a vast waste of the time and resources of police, courts and social services. Virtually every study undertaken has found that cannabis is less dangerous than alcohol or tobacco. The time and money devoted to this futile crusade to clamp down on cannabis would be better spent fighting poverty and the root causes of drug misuse....
As well as having a serious illegal drugs problem, Scotland also has an even more serious alcohol problem. A huge proportion of violent incidents, including murder, serious assault and domestic brutality is rooted in alcohol abuse.
Alcohol abuse is also a colossal drain on the resources of the NHS and is a major contributory factor to the third world levels of life expectancy for working class men in some parts of the country....
In the long term, we want to build a society where instant oblivion to blot out the reality of everyday life is a less attractive option. In the meantime we will campaign for improved treatment and rehabilitation services for those suffering from alcohol and drug addiction.
I must say, these Socialist Scots are spot on!
+ + + + +
Liberal Democrats are Good Too (But Not as Good as the Scottish Socialists)
I know that the UK election is old news now, and for most Americans it was no news at all. The Liberal Democrats' platform was silent on drug policy, but it does endorse drug policy reform that is far and above anything coming out of the Labour or Conservative parties.
In fact, in the closing stages of the campaign, The Guardian reported that Tony Blair was nothing less than an utter demagogue the issue:
[T]he prime minister will renew his assault on the Liberal Democrats' drugs policy, which he believes would "signal to criminal gangs that Britain was soft on drugs and weak on crime," if they were ever implemented.
Writing in The Sun newspaper, he says the Liberal Democrats are committed to handing down non-custodial sentences to people caught in possession of heroin or crack cocaine.
"I have spent eight years fighting the war against drugs in our country," he said. "Charles Kennedy has called on voters to send a message to me and the government. I believe a vote for the Lib Dems would send a message that Britain is going soft on drugs."
So I guess that the Crown Prince of "New Labour," which is not so new anymore, has the same love for Laura Norder and inflamming the fear of the masses that would find him at home in either the Democratic or Republican party. Caustic rhetoric in the pursuit of more votes is never, ever a political vice.
The Liberal Democrats did issue a short paper on drug policy reform. Most of it is rather staid -- engaging in doses of what I brand "bureaucratese" -- and it certainly does not have the rhetorical gusto of the Scottish Socialist platform. But in comparison to their principal competition, it is nothing short of remarkable. Money quote:
Liberal Democrats believe the current emphasis on criminal sanctions for users actually makes the problem worse: it exacerbates the adverse consequences of drug use; it brings many young people, who would otherwise be law-abiding, into contact with both the criminal world and the criminal justice system; it undermines more promising strategies for minimising harmful drug use; and it diverts large public resources which could be better employed.
Liberal Democrats believe the time has come to reform the approach to drugs policy, so that there is an intelligent range of responses, with the emphasis on education, treatment for addiction and harm reduction strategies rather than blanket prohibition, but retaining criminal sanctions where justified.
A major political party actually embraces harm reduction?!? Take that, Mark Souder! The two-page document (pdf) is here. Thanks to The Guardian's blog on Election 2005, specifically on "Labour's Drugs Problem."
[For those of you out there in Delano, Charles Kennedy is the leader of the Lib Dem party. Yes, I am intentionally ripping off Rush Limbaugh, but using a different city in Central California to pick on...]
posted by Nikos A. Leverenz @ 3:25 PM
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