Anyone got any answers to this, do you think the so called drug war is a failure?


Government urged to ‘nationalise’ cocaine and ecstasy and sell them in pharmacies

Cocaine, ecstasy and other amphetamines should be legalised, “nationalised” and sold in government-run pharmacies, a leading UK drugs charity has said.

The campaign group Transform has urged governments around the world to accept the war on drugs is “unwinnable” and tackle drug-related crime by offering people stimulants as safely as possible.

A new book by the organisation entitled How to Regulate Stimulants sets out a plan for the state to get involved in selling class A drugs over the counter using specially-trained chemists.

The former prime minister of New Zealand Helen Clark backed the organisation’s ideas in a foreword for the book. “As consensus grows that the war on drugs has failed, so does the need for a frank exploration of the alternatives,” Ms Clark stated.

“Regulation can facilitate the dramatic improvement of the health and wellbeing of people who use drugs and of the wider community. It is essential that we begin a serious discussion on how we regulate stimulants.”

Transform has proposed that a specialist regulatory agency could license the safe production of drugs such as cocaine, ecstasy and amphetamines – as well as determining their price at special government pharmacies.

The sale of such substances would be limited to people over the age 18, with only one dose allowed per purchase. All packaging would feature highly visible health warnings and information on risk information, and there would be a ban on any advertising of the drugs.

The book states that by giving the government a monopoly on sales, “there is less business incentive to prioritise profit maximisation, meaning that pricing policy can focus on the interests of public health”.
Dr James Nicholls, chief executive at Transform, said the group wanted to offer government some “concrete” alternatives to criminalisation.

“The so-called war on drugs has failed. Our proposals would take drug supply away from organised crime groups, creating a system that reduces harm rather than increasing it. The status quo can’t continue,” Dr Nicholls said.

Transform’s regulation plan is backed by Juan Manuel Santos, the former president of Colombia. “I am totally in favour of legalising cocaine,” said Mr Santos, who claimed it would remove the power of drug cartels.

A spokesperson for the Home Office said there were no plans to reconsider the classification or legalisation of drugs such as cocaine, ecstasy and amphetamines.

Wow, that is one theorical option indeed, much discussed a while ago in France....Sounds more serious when the UK says it....would it be possible over the Channel ?
After the interesting but temporary Spice episode, another step into the unknown...


It's a short clip from France Societe Anonyme (from Alain Corneau), a 70's sci-fi movie where France is manufacturing and legalising all drugs. There's a famous scene with all the members of a family gather for dinner, using each one a different drug (coke, heroin, alcool, opium etc..) and the yougest one get a slap on the head because he only smokes joints. Hélas, can't find it on the web, so, here's another funky part.

Cocaine has always been available in US hospitals. It’s highly regulated and controlled. It has some wonderful properties when used correctly.

However some drugs are designed to cause addiction with almost first time use. With really bad side effects.

Is it really a good idea to legalize them all?

No political party in the UK would unilaterally include it in their election manifesto. The opposition would denounce it and promise never to enact such changes in the law. The are millions of voters in the UK who would oppose such a change in the law, and many would feel strongly enough to be likely to change their usual voting patterns, on a one election only basis, just to defeat this proposed policy. Ergo, a landslide for the party opposing it.

Sure, there are people who would vote in that election just for that one issue of legalisation, but there are not enough of them to overcome all those oldies and non drug takers who would overwhelm them. Druggies always think everyone is at it, but they are wrong; it's just their mates who are. Most non drug takers won't have anything to so with them.

The only way this ever becomes law is by cross party agreement, and as most opposing political parties can barely be in the same room as each other, I don't see this as high on their list of ambitions.

Portugal has abandoned most prohibitions on drugs. I don't know the details and if you can buy them from reliable quality controlled sources or they have just de-criminalised the possession of them and the black market still thrives. The backdrop of this policy was, I think, a result of the global financial crisis and the country's dire financial state. I think they just decided to stop wasting police time and money of pursuing a war that cannot be won.

NZ ran a referendum on legalising cannabis alongside their election (and also one on voluntary euthanasia). Preliminary results will come out on 30 October. The pot one's not binding, but as Labour appears to have gained a majority in their own right they will definitely legalise if the referendum result is in the positive. The euthanasia bill has already been passed and will be signed into law if the result is affirmative.

Polls on cannabis legalisation were not very encouraging, but it might scrape through.

Safe injection sites, with medical professionals, have been operating for over a dozen years in Canada. Saved thousands of lives, especially those users who used to buy off the street drugs that are laced with the ultra-addictive fentanyl and suffered overdoses and died. (Thank you China.)

There is even a British Columbia pilot project site with an opioid dispensing machine. You need to register to operate it.

The Guardian story below is a pretty good overall summary.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/201 ... nic-heroin

Below is the descrption by the Canadian Centre for Addictions of harm reduction sites.

https://canadiancentreforaddictions.org ... ion-sites/

Put BLM out of business, another benefit.