War on the War on Drugs

[Keaney Michael <michael.keaney@xxxxxx>]

The Herald, 28 March 2001

Socialists in call to let NHS
      prescribe heroin

      MURRAY RITCHIE

      THE Scottish Socialist Party yesterday placed
      action against drug abuse at the centre of its
      general election campaign, with a radical policy
      for decriminalising cannabis and introducing
      heroin prescriptions on the NHS to cut out
      criminal dealers.

      To the alarm of Labour, Tommy Sheridan, the
      SSP leader, appears to be gathering cautious
      support from other opposition parties and even
      from some Labour MSPs.

      An SNP official confirmed that "most" of the 35
      Nationalists in the Scottish Parliament now
      support Margo MacDonald's call to legalise
      cannabis for medical use.

      A minority of the SNP even support Mr
      Sheridan's call to do the same for recreational
      users as a means of breaking the link with
      pushers of hard drugs. Greens support
      legalising cannabis and the Liberal Democrats
      want a royal commission to investigate
      decriminalisation.

      A senior Labour MSP said about six of his
      colleagues support decriminalising cannabis
      altogether and a substantial minority want the
      law on medical use changed.

      Phil Gallie, the hard-line Tory justice
      spokesman, said the Conservatives were
      "relaxed" about moves to legalise cannabis for
      the sick.

      Mr Sheridan is planning an assault on Labour
      policy with a rally on Sunday afternoon in Clyde
      Street, Glasgow, in direct opposition to a
      Labour-backed rally organised by the Daily
      Record.

      Tony Blair praised the Record's campaign
      during his speech to its Scottish conference last
      month and the paper has since unleashed a
      campaign of sustained vilification of Mr
      Sheridan without, so far, giving him the right of
      reply.

      Most recently Mr Sheridan was denounced as a
      "working class zero" for challenge executive
      policy on drugs and demanding a fresh
      approach.

      Kevin Williamson, SSP drugs spokesman, said
      the executive's anti-drugs strategy was strong
      on celebrity endorsement but, he said, it lacked
      support from medical experts and field workers.

      Mr Sheridan claimed the attacks from the
      Record showed the SSP was getting to Labour.
      "They are running scared of what we can do to
      them in the general election."

      He wants cannabis legalised so that users can
      avoid contact with dealers pushing hard drugs.
      Under the "kill the link" slogan he wants the
      executive to declare war not just on dealers but
      on the poverty which he claims prompts drug
      abuse and the "hypocrisy" of the executive in
      promoting "populist" stunts such as Sunday's
      Record-backed protest.

      He said: "The past ten years of populist
      tub-thumping have tragically failed working class
      kids and communities. It is time for a new
      approach. We are not pro-drugs. We are anti
      drugs, all drugs. I do not use drugs and I don't
      smoke or drink. But I believe hash is no more
      harmful than alcohol."

      His strategy is to legalise cannabis to keep
      youngsters away from dealers who would
      introduce them to heroin. At the same time he
      would encourage the NHS-supervised
      prescription of heroin to discourage contact with
      dealers and criminal behaviour.

      The executive said it spent £250m a year on its
      anti-drugs programme and it had announced
      another £100m over three years for anti-drugs
      education. "We have a well balanced
      programme," a spokesman said.

      Scotland Yard said yesterday that drug users
      found with small amounts of cannabis are to be
      let off with a formal warning instead of being
      arrested. Police in Brixton are introducing the
      policy to target their resources on the fight
      against harder drugs.

      Meanwhile, scientists at Dundee University have
      been awarded £241,000 to study the effects of
      cannabis on the brain.

Full story: http://www.theherald.co.uk/news/archive/28-3-19101-0-22-52.html

Michael Keaney
Mercuria Business School
Martinlaaksontie 36
01620 Vantaa
Finland

michael.keaney@xxxxxx