We are wasting millions of pounds locking up non-violent drug offenders

In 1971 parliament passed the Misuse of Drugs Act – a piece of legislation which banned the possession, supply, manufacture and the import and export of controlled drugs. In the fifty years since its creation, its impact has been devastating.

The number of people dying from drugs in England and Wales continues to rise. Drug-related deaths rose to 4,561 last year – the highest level since records began in 1993. The prohibitionist approach of getting ‘tough’ on drugs has clearly failed. It’s time to discuss the possibility of a new approach. 

Not everyone who takes drugs will develop substance abuse problems or become an addict. Every weekend, hundreds of thousands of people will take illegal drugs – most will indulge in relatively innocuous street drugs like cannabis or nitrous oxide. Others may turn to the less frowned upon state-approved option of prescribed pharmaceutical medication. Maybe you’re suffering from insomnia so a sympathetic friend gives you one of their prescribed valium to get some much-needed sleep. Under the Misuse of Drugs Act, these people are all technically breaking the law.

It is my honest opinion that those who do so should not be arrested or, at worst, put in prison.

In 2019-20, 68,000 people were arrested for drug offences in England and Wales. Out of the 82,000 individuals languishing in our overcrowded and understaffed prisons, 11 percent are incarcerated for drug possession. With the annual cost of housing a prisoner at roughly £39,000, releasing these non-violent offenders would free up almost £500 million. 

The money saved could be used to fund and staff drug treatment facilities. Not everyone wants to be helped but those that do should be supported. When £8 million was cut from drug treatment services in the East of England in 2013, there was a twenty percent rise in drug poisoning deaths across the region over the next five years.

With roughly half of the deaths involving opiates, money should be invested to finance the implementation of regulated safe injection sites. Evidence from the United States shows that this has countered the risk of overdose and significantly lowered mortality rates.

When Portugal was faced with rising drug deaths at the turn of the century, it tried a new approach. The country decided to decriminalise the possession of all illegal drugs. Contrary to what some critics believe, it is still illegal to deal drugs in the country. But those found in possession of a small quantity of drugs are either given a fine or receive health and social support. No-one gets the stigma of a criminal record or prison sentence. In the ensuing years, deaths from opioid overdoses dramatically dropped. Now, Portugal has one of the lowest drug death rates in the EU: 6 deaths per million. Contrast this with Scotland. With 1,339 drug-related deaths last year, the country recently became the drug death capital of Europe. Scotland’s per million death rate is 315 to 350 times higher than Portugal. When you realise that Portugal has a population twice the size of Scotland, it is a case study in liberal humanism.

Cleveland Police started a Heroin Assisted Treatment programme in 2019. It gave 14 of the area’s high-risk addicts a safe place to inject diamorphine three times a day.  After twelve months, the evidence was positive. There was a vast improvement in the health and quality of life of those that remained on the scheme. The trial has been estimated to cost around £12,000 a year per addict – a third of what it costs to keep someone incarcerated for a year. Plus, when you factor in what an addict racks up in court costs and NHS treatment, it has been estimated that this could result in close to a fifty per cent reduction to the tax bill. 

It’s radical and It will no doubt have its critics, but I would like to point out that we already prescribe government subsidised opiate antagonist drugs like Methadone and Buprenorphine to drug-dependent patients. Ironically these drugs have a much longer half-life than heroin – making them much harder to come off. 

The war on drugs is not a real war. Wars eventually end. Fifty years of enforcement and what have we accomplished? We have wasted millions locking up non-violent drug offenders, yet people still continue to take mind altering substances.

One thing is certain, we will never arrest our way out of this. Until we move away from punishment and prohibition and begin to seriously focus on health and harm reduction, the prisons and the graveyards will unfortunately continue to swell.