The London Daily News

George Hatjoullis

The drug reform charity Transform (www.tdpf.org.uk) has produced a cost-benefit analysis comparing the continuation of the present drug prohibition strategy with legalisation and regulation of now prohibited drugs. The authors conclude that a great deal of money could be saved through legalisation and regulation. The economic logic for legalisation and regulation is quite compelling.

A large amount of drug related crime is eliminated overnight, saving costs in the judicial system. Drugs can now be taxed! Legalisation also regularises the inconsistent treatment of cigarettes and alcohol. Drug production standards can also be raised and maintained. Research into the effects of drugs, and dissemination of this research, is made much easier. So why have successive governments not taken this very obvious route?

One drawback lies in the consequences of unilateral action in a world of drug prohibition. The UK would become a haven for drug tourists from all over the world. Of course, this would bring in more money and have great benefits for the Balance of Payments! However, it does not take too much imagination to conjure up the social problems it might bring in its wake. Imagine the London equivalent of Sun, Sea and Sangria (Sex, Drugs and Rock?). Amsterdam has experimented with a limited version without disastrous consequences, I believe. However, the Transform report seems to have something more ambitious in mind.

The most serious drawback is that drug use would clearly increase. Once again that is good for tax revenue but is this desirable? My reservation comes from my own recent postgraduate studies in psychology. The predisposition to use drugs does not seem to be simply related to the predisposition to addiction once drug use is initiated. There is a risk that increased drug use will bring in its wake a disproportionate increase in addiction. Once again, good for tax revenue but is this desirable? I suggest economic arguments, however compelling, are given less weight until the relation between use and addiction is better understood.

photo credit: Playhappy.wordpress.com