FDS Insight Magazine Jun - Sep 2023

47 Why is the UK government still refusing to pursue harm-reduction strategies proven to save lives? Why is it insisting on punitive enforcement despite undoubtedly being aware of its ineffectiveness in the context of drugs? We have long passed the point where lawmakers could claim ‘they do not know how to proceed’ or ‘require more evidence’. Those deciding the Conservative government’s drug policies know what they should do, but they are prioritising short-term political gains over British lives. Instead of funding OPCs that are proven to prevent drug deaths, they choose to ramp up punishments for drug possession, because they want to prove to voters that despite all of their failings political and moral failings, they are still ‘the party of law and order’. Furthermore, by heating up their immoral and unwinnable war against drugs and drug users, they are hoping to distract the public from the fact that they have presided over the disintegration of the UK’s health and social support system during their decade in power. When it comes to the issue of drugs, the Labour Party is not exempt from guilt either. In their dogged pursuit of power, Labour parliamentarians are increasingly co-opting their Conservative rivals’ punitive approach to drug control. Rather than amplifying expert voices who are mostly calling for an end to the incarceration of people who use drugs, they opt to echo the populist calls for harsher sentences. Regrettably, punitive drug policies have bipartisan support in the British Parliament. The threat posed by punitive drug policies like the one outlined in the July white paper is not only an increase in harm to those who use drugs. Such policies also disproportionally harm marginalised and already overpoliced communities. Indeed, despite supposedly being aimed at deterring middle-class recreational drug users, the proposed three-tier system and the increased policing it necessitates will impact racialised minority communities and those living in poverty the most. This is particularly shocking coming at a time of record-low confidence in policing. Drug law enforcement has always been a leading driver of racial disparity in the British criminal justice system, with policing and prosecutions of drug possession offences being unduly focused on Black and minority communities. The government’s most recent proposals will only further exacerbate these disparities, devastating the lives and future opportunities of many. The enforcement of a punitive system that deals with a public health issue through arrests and daily harassment of minorities will do little to improve health or public confidence. Today, the global discussion on drugs is focused on decriminalisation and legalisation. Several states in the US, where the deadly ‘war on drugs’ originally began, have already legalised cannabis and some even started to