If you feel using recreational drugs is morally wrong, no problem, don’t do it. Just say No. If you feel that recreational drugs should be banned,I don’t agree, but fine. If Governments hadn’t failed miserably to eliminate recreational drug use for over a century, it might be a valid alternative point of view. However, all the evidence points to the impossibility of this. Prohibition results in murder and mayhem every time, war on drugs my arse, war on citizens freedom more like.
The war on drugs is a pantomime. We all know it’s a joke, when you can get a gram of cocaine or quarter of hash delivered in any town in England faster than ‘Deliveroo’ can turn up with a Chinese take away.
My niece took her kids to a panto last weekend, they loved it. Yelling out ‘Oh yes, he is’ and ‘She’s behind you’. Screaming the obvious to someone determined not to hear, it had them in stitches.
“Christmas, for many of Brits, would not be Christmas without it. Pantomime presents a tale of good and evil, where hope triumphs over adversity after danger and virtual despair. Still the politicians and the tabloids persist in pushing the fantasy of winning a war on drugs.
‘He’s Behind You’ and PC Plum knows it.
In its yearly Pay and Morale Survey this year, www.policeprofessional.com found 18 per cent of cops planned to resign either as soon as possible, or within the next two years.
The top reasons were morale (98 per cent), how the police are treated by the Government (96 per cent) and pay (95 per cent). Being undervalued and on the front line in an unwinnable war will do that for you.
The former chief constable for Cambridgeshire Constabulary, Tom Lloyd, calls for the decriminalisation of all drugs, citing the failure of current legislation to combat drug use as evidence prohibition is not working.
Mr Lloyd added the war on drugs is unwinnable, the prohibition on drugs is putting control of the sector in the hands of criminal groups.
I think that the population at large has been misled by a lot of the media coverage of the so-called war on drugs, decriminalisation would not significantly increase drug use and it would bring the drug market under control in the long term.
If you take somebody’s youthful experimentation with drugs, they should be afforded the same forgiveness and understanding as Shadow and Cabinet ministers who admit to youthful experimentation.
(We must have some very youthful M. P’s. When tested recently11 out of 12 parliamentary loos, proved positive for cocaine.)
If we had a review, as has been suggested, I think a lot of important information about the reality of the situation would become available and I think public opinion would change quite substantially.
This is not ‘Policing by Consent.’
The Home Office’s own research has stated that the £1.6 billion a year spent on drug law enforcement has little impact on drug availability.
Having been told by the children that the villain was ‘behind you’ several times the Tory government has cobbled together a forward looking 10-year drugs plan for more of the same but worse. They know the system doesn’t work, but can’t let go of it because they have little to offer voters beyond promises to be “tough on crime”
Reports in October of last year suggested that the Home Secretary, Suella Braverman was “receptive” to the position laid out by Conservative Police and Crime Commissioners at a party conference, that the drug should be reclassified from Class B to Class A.
“Swift, Certain, Tough: New consequences for drug possession” is a word-salad of a white paper and a last-gasp attempt to codify the Tory government’s preoccupation with punishing “middle-class coke-heads” and recreational drug users. How many more lives must be damaged by the Tory’s desperate attempts to retain their seats in the next election?
.
Ok so the war is lost, where’s the opportunity?
The NHS is dying after 12 years of Tory neglect and a worldwide pandemic. Morale is low, staff are short and wages depressed. The Nurses and Ambulance crews are striking, for fuck’s sake.
According to: https://www.kingsfund.org.uk/projects/verdict/how-much-money-does-nhs-need there is a £30,000,000,000 NHS funding Gap.
For most of us the NHS is the only real contact we have with Government enterprise and like an old friend we hurt to see it sick.
All that clapping was very sweet but how about putting our money where our mouths are?
Imagine having an NHS we can all rely on again. Imagine being able to get a doctor’s appointment easily, A&E departments where you don’t need to take a sleeping bag, Cancer treatment in time to save lives, Ambulances that don’t have to double as camper vans. Nurses, ambulance drivers, paramedics, and auxiliary staff, being paid a wage that reflects their worth so recruitment meets the need. That’s what they are on strike for, to save our NHS. They are busy enough, it’s up to the rest of us to help.
Here’s How
Legalising and taking control of the recreational drug market in the UK will amongst other advantages supply at least 80% of that shortfall.
Government Expenditure:
According to: https://transformdrugs.org/blog/misuse-of-drugs-act-counting-the-costs
yearly costs across the criminal justice system in England alone on drug offences and drug-related crime.
£6.9 Billion
Yearly costs to the criminal justice system of drug-related crime.
£5.5 Billion
Allowance for the rest of the UK 16%
£2.24 Billion
Total £14.64 Billion
£240 a year for every man, woman and child in the country. £1,000 per average family.
Income:
Total £9,440,000,000 in 2015
https://www.unodc.org/res/wdr2022/MS/WDR22_Booklet_4.pdf
Shows a growth in cocaine production of 20% since this graph was drawn. So, allow 15% in market growth in the UK across the board over 7 years. Ok if I round it up to £1,500,000,000?
A total of £10,940,000,000 in sales, or the equivalent of £162 per person in the UK or almost £700 a year per family.
Frankly I think these numbers are very conservative, but let’s work with them.
Including VAT, the Tax on a bottle of whisky is 70% and 80% on Cigarettes. After all, cigarettes do cause the death of 30% of users. Shall we split it?
That gives us at least £8,205,000,000 Tax
Bottom Line
Tax on sales: £8.205 Billion
Savings on enforcement: £14.204 Billion
Total available: £22.409Billion
Target to save NHS: £30.000 Billion
Short £7,591.000,000
We are short of the equivalent of Governmental chump change. Sales are far higher than my estimates. If taxing that doesn’t make up the difference Perhaps the Brexiteers might like to chuck in some of that money they said Brexit was going to save us.
‘Oh no we didn’t.’ ‘Oh yes you did,’
Too simple a solution? Forgive me, I am just a simple Outlaw, pointing out the obvious.
Hiding cocaine in Wine and Olive oil bottles was a simple idea too. Worked well for me and my customers though. I evaded the prohibition on Cocaine over forty years. Will you please help me break it, for everyone’s good.
Doubt my facts? Check them out with the experts. If you wish to inform me better, or offer support, I would love to hear from you. If you hate the idea and have a better one, I would love to hear that too.
Resources:
https://www.kingsfund.org.uk/projects/verdict/how-much-money-does-nhs-need
https://transformdrugs.org/blog/misuse-of-drugs-act-counting-the-costs
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