Dangers of the ConDem drugs policy

As the ConDem slash and burn continues it’s going to be hard to keep up with all the ugliness.  It’s not just what is contained in the comprehensive spending review or the headline issues.  Take, for instance, the recently published Home Office document Drug Policy 2010: Reducing Demand, Restricting Supply, Building Recovery: Supporting people to live a drug free life (let’s just call it drug free life for convenience)

You don’t have to be a libertarian to realize that the ongoing “War on Drugs” is a humanitarian disaster for everyone except the alliance of organised criminals and populist politicians who keep it going.  Even Bob Ainsworth figured this out in the end though waiting opportunistically until out of power to say so.

For the debate on decriminalisation and regulation the most telling paragraphs in drug free life are these. Compare and contrast:

“Alcohol plays an important part in the cultural life of this country, with large numbers employed in production, retail and the hospitality industry.  Pubs, bars and clubs contribute to community and family life and also generate valuable revenue to the economy.  However, alcohol is a regulated product.  Some individuals misuse it, contributing to crime and anti-social behaviour, preventable illness and early death.”

“The international production and trade in illegal drugs is a global business controlled by organised criminals who do not respect international frontiers or international law.  The illicit drug market in the UK is worth an estimated £4-6 billion per year.  We are determined to reduce drug supply further through a co-ordinated response across government and law enforcement to make the country a more challenging environment for organised crime.”

That would pretty much sum up the entire simple argument of Transform but represented  as if this is simply a natural and immutable state of affairs rather than the will of states.  Another set of tax dodgers let off the hook with the collusion of government.

And beyond the rhetoric of the ‘War on Drugs’ drug free life also represents a new war on drug users. The document is packed with talk of enforcement, recovery, prevention and drug free outcomes.  There are but two mentions of reduction of drug-related harm and no mention of ‘harm reduction’ as an approach to address the needs of drug users actually at risk and the communities in which they live.  ‘Rebalancing’ is used throughout as code for moving away from services such as needle and syringe programmes, opioid substitution therapy and overdose prevention, in favour of ‘drug free outcomes’ and ‘recovery based treatment’.  While there are lively clinical debates about the correct use of substitute prescribing and tapering, anyone who feels methadone and the rest of the harm reduction toolkit is a failure because it doesn’t always produce ‘drug free outcomes’ hasn’t understood what these interventions are actually for. Simply put, harm reduction is for saving lives and improving the quality of life of those drug users who are unable or unwilling to stop using drugs. Incidentally, harm reduction interventions bring users into an ongoing relationship with the people and services that can help them if they wish to stop taking drugs. With the emphasis on drug free outcomes, and no mention of harm reduction, the government may as well be saying  “the only good junkie is an ex-junkie.”

The new drug policy is not just a matter of words.  The sting in the tail is the funding.  As with the rest of the health service, drug services are going to suffer further onslaughts of privatisation (much is already contracted out to the voluntary sector) under the guise of localisation.  Payment by results currently being piloted will no doubt follow the new emphasis when rolled out across the country.  This will create powerful incentives for local drug services to scale back vital harm reduction work with those drug users who are the least likely to contribute to the ‘drug free’ statistics.  In the future we can expect much less work aimed at saving lives and more massaging of figures aimed at saving face.

But for now there’s still time to appreciate this excellent educational video on the recovery position.  This is vital knowledge in any situation where someone is unconscious and breathing – a useful skill set, whether your circle is injecting drug users, young demonstrators on the receiving end of police brutality or leftists getting on in years.