Feature Interview

Do drug laws need to be revised?

Russell Brand's impassioned plea for substance abuse to be treated as a health and social issue rather than that of a criminal nature this week has once again thrown the age old 'war on drugs' debate into the media spotlight. We spoke to Eliot Elam, media relations manager of 'Addaction', the UK's largest drug and alcohol treatment charity, to get some background information on the issue and the possible repercussions it could have on a global scale.

Comedian and actor Brand appeared before a parliamentary committee reviewing UK drug policy last Tuesday and delivered a fervent cry for change in the approach to prosecuting addicts, a subject the former heroin user holds close to his heart. Brand came across well in his speech, eloquently spoken with the first hand experience and facts to express himself. He called for 'compassion', citing the stigma that treating addicts as criminals generates and declared that 'addiction is a disease and a health issue' with users needing support rather than incarceration.

Drugs are certainly becoming less of a 'taboo' subject, are prominent in the modern world we live in and Brand's sentiments of being there for addicts rather than ostracising them are something that Elliot Elam of Addaction definitely concurs with:  “We agree with him totally, he talked a lot of sense. Obviously the current legal status has created a stigma and our clients have been stigmatised but I think like him we are unconvinced on legalisation as necessarily the only way forward.” Legalisation as a collective term is rather confused however as it does little to account for the diversity that the term 'drugs' actually ensues. “There is such a wide variety of different substances out there that the term 'war on drugs' is actually nonsense . You're going from weaker forms of cannabis up to crack cocaine and it is incomparable. If you were to legalise all drugs you'd be legalising crack cocaine, heroin, and I can imagine there would be an immeasurable problem as there is presently with alcohol.” 

Google recently hosted a much publicised interactive debate on the subject of legalisation with the speakers including Sir Richard Branson, Misha Glenny, Peter Hitchens and Russell Brand again. The debate was a fascinating encounter of liberal and conservative views with solid arguments made on both sides, it is a subject that everybody has an opinion on and the passion was evident. An argument that kept reoccurring pro legalisation was that of crime and financial gain as a result. Author and journalist Misha Glenny was stringent in his claims, stating that “With all of the money spent enforcing drug laws for the government to break even they would have to prevent 75% of drug trading. Current statistics show not even 30% is being prosecuted.” It is a curious thing that the drug dealers themselves are in fact praying for legalisation never to occur, such would be their financial loss. The drugs market is estimated to be worth over $400 billion worldwide and the Home Office estimate its value at £4.65 billion in the UK alone so it was an issue I was keen to find Addaction's stance on; by keeping drugs illegal are we handing over this power and money to the criminals? “We really don't believe that it to be as simple as legalise drugs and then the criminals will therefore stop their involvement. There are already huge industries selling contraband alcohol, contraband cigarettes and contraband methadone so I think it is naïve of people to think of it as black and white as that and it's a simplistic argument.”

Addiction, similarly to depression, is becoming a more and more socially accepted illness which can only be beneficial to those suffering from either. The United Nations, whilst retaining their strict stance on legalisation, now accept that addicts do need help and it is a mantra that Addaction are certainly behind: “Our take on it is the UN said in a 2007 report that the best way to solve the problem was to reduce the market for drugs in the world. The way you reduce the demand for them, especially if you're looking at the harder drugs, the most addictive, the most damaging, is to treat them. What we need is more money for treatment.” Sceptics and those on the other side of the fence will surely see an obvious flaw in that last statement, citing that the $400 billion the black market generates could be easily be spent on treatment, but by legalising drugs would that therefore create more users needing more treatment granting it relative?  These are the points that make it such a delicate topic, one that has such concrete points on each side and Elliot claims his organisation are always open minded to new evidence. “The way we work is based on evidence, facts and that's just the way we operate. You do get a lot of commentators, a lot written down on paper that does make some sense, you can't deny that there is a great argument to both sides. But as yet we're not fully convinced and haven't seen anything definitive to persuade us otherwise.”

With cries from several corners for the approach on addicts to be radically altered and better treatment provided I was keen to find out just what treatment exists today and what methods are used in rehabilitation centres. “We provide the kind of treatment that not only gets people off of drugs, which is always our absolute focus in the long term, but helps rebuild lives. They're not just given three months or so, we look at every case individually and create a rebuilding plan. We try to get the family involved as often as we can, especially their children as one thing you'll always find is that people who've been through drug problems themselves, including their families have very rarely been consulted on drugs. We provide education, vocational training and other support to ensure that our clients find a secure state of life and remain off of the drugs full stop. Education is crucial, you know, it's so common to see young addicts who have grown up watching their parents abuse drugs and it is a vicious cycle that does pass down generations. Crime and poverty are involved and like I say our aim is always to rebuild.”

It seems that the treatment is available and as Elliot says, Addaction is one of hundreds of similar organisations across the country. The main problem does seem to lay with the stigma surrounding drug users, we can never be certain if legalisation will ever be a success or in fact ever happen, but it seems that addicts are afraid to admit they need help in fear of the persecution and ridicule society still associates with them. Drug dealing is a totally different manner of affairs but as Russell Brand said at parliament and Elliot has mentioned throughout, this 'stigma' and 'taboo' tendency surrounding drug users is actually causing people to lose their lives in fear. Nobody can possibly know for sure whether legalisation is for the best or vice versa but having looked at all the evidence I think there is little doubt that softer more empathetic approaches are needed when it comes to addiction.