Time to come clean

Drugs policy: Time to come clean | The Economist Time to come clean

Nov 5th 2009
From Economist.com
Politicians need to tell the truth about drugs, not sack those who are brave enough to do so

IT WAS unwise of Richard Nixon to describe the worldwide prohibition of narcotics as a ?war on drugs?. But the ban, which marked a gloomy 40th anniversary this year, has been very much like a war in one sense: the first casualty has been the truth. The latest victim is David Nutt, an eminent psychopharmacologist who was sacked from his role as chair of Britain?s drugs advisory panel on October 30th after a bust-up with the home secretary (see article). Professor Nutt was held to have overstepped the line between advising and interfering when he repeated his view that cannabis and ecstasy were less harmful than the government claims.

Quarrels between ministers and their scientific advisers are neither new nor unusual: Winston Churchill harrumphed that experts should be ?on tap, not on top?, and advisers on everything from energy to education are routinely favoured or frozen out according to the whims of ministers. But in drugs policy the relationship is badly on the rocks, thanks to the yawning gap that has emerged between the evidence that scientists provide and the policies that politicians are prepared to support in public. The guilty party is the politicians?and until they adopt a more realistic approach to drugs, they will struggle to find any serious experts with whom they can get along.....i believe we should stop jailing people for possessing, using drugs if they are not dealers. legalization may work, as the current approach is a waste of resources.