Europe: British Public Opinion Headed in Wrong Direction on Drug Policy, Poll Finds
If a comprehensive poll released last weekend is accurate -- and there is no reason to think it isn't -- British public opinion on drug policy is headed in the wrong direction. The poll conducted by ICM Research for the Observer and the Guardian newspapers found that public attitudes toward drug use, drug users, and drug sellers had grown decidedly more hard-line in recent years.
According to the poll, the proportion of people who think drug laws are "too liberal" has increased from 25% in 2002 to 32% now. At the same time, the number of people who think the drug laws are "not liberal enough" has dropped from 30% to 18%, and support for decriminalizing soft drugs has declined from 38% to 27%.
Respondents showed little sympathy for people who distribute drugs, whether they be professional drug dealers or merely sharing them with friends. About 70% said that all dealers should be treated the same -- with prison sentences. And 63% said drug addicts should be imprisoned.
Somewhat paradoxically, there is strong, though not majority, support for decriminalizing drug possession (38%) and making drugs available to addicts by prescription (44%).
Home Secretary Jacqui Smith told the newspapers hardening public attitudes were driven in part by concerns about stronger strains of cannabis. Both the Labor government and the British tabloid media have been engaged in a sometimes hysterical campaign to whip up fears about "skunk" in particular, as if that specific high-potency strain were somehow different from "regular" marijuana.
"This is a very important determinant of our decision to reclassify [cannabis from a Class C to a Class B drug]. This is a different drug even to that which was reclassified from B down to C [in 2003]," she claimed. "People are now beginning to recognize this isn't just some kind of harmless thing, but can have a serious impact on young people's mental health." People also realized marijuana production involved organized crime, she added.
But Martin Smith, the director of Drugscope, told newspapers the media and the government had falsely portrayed the drug problem as worse than it really was. "Although overall illegal drug use has been falling and significant progress has been made in tackling drug-related crime, many people believe the problem at best is getting no better," he said.
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Comment posted by Malkavian on Wed, 11/26/2008 - 8:54amThis insanity is sweeping a lot more than Britain. In my country, Denmark, we hear the same Reefer Madness crap about skunk, and in Schwitzerland they're also concerned about this "new, stronger cannabis" and want to regulate it to make it less strong (like ... DUH! Way more than Homer stupid....). It's as if every drug warrior figured out that people weren't afraid of pot, just as they weren't afraid of hemp back in the early 20th centry USA. Just like hemp became "marijuana", now pot is becoming "skunk". Easier to project your fear onto the unknown, right?
9/11 started this whole backlash "back to basics" and the current financial and economic crisis will do us no good either.
Those politicians aren't one iota better than the priesthood of earlier days. It's like they thrive MORE in times of no reason, no evidence and no science.
There's even a clear parallel to 1979. That year should, at least in the US with Jimmi Carter, have been the birth of a more lenient and rational approach to drug policy, but EVERYONE underestimated the power and determination of the conservatives and religious grass roots. These people are and have always been very powerful, but we didn't think so because none of them said much. Well, they didn't HAVE to say much, because they we're already having their insane Drug War, but they rose to defend their medieval views when they got scared that the reform movement might actually succeed.
THAT'S why there's this paradoxical large group of legalization friendly people at the same time that the majority wants to turn the whole friggin' world into a GULAG just like the USA has done today.