DRUGS IN THE WAKE OF CRIME

 A Band C fine at court is150% of relevant weekly income.  The Sentencing Guideline for possession of Class A drugs is copied below.

In February 2020 Dame Carol Black published phase one of her independent review of drugs commissioned by the Government in 2019. Examining the UK's drug market she labelled it as “big business” and estimated its worth at £9.4bn a year.  Governments have refused to consider the decriminalisation of cannabis  never mind Class A drugs. They have refused to acknowledge that a system of licensing specified outlets supplying scientifically formulated narcotic substances is a viable and necessary alternative to the current chaotic situation which enriches criminals, encourages violent offending and kills addicts whose ingestion of such substances cut with various toxins was responsible for the deaths of  1,330 people in Scotland in 2021. 4,859 deaths related to drug poisoning were registered in the same year  in England and Wales. 

The current court situation in England is madness when it comes to punishing drug possession. In this case the arithmetic tells us that the offender had an income of £80: in other words he is a 51 year old living on social security who is likely to have been before the courts previously as few of his age use cocaine as a starter drug. I, along with eminent scientific and medical experts who are far more knowledgeable than I, have long advocated a medical path to rehabilitation.  My preference would be a 21st century workhouse.  [Insert that word in the search box for previous posts on the topic.]

Governments have buried their collective heads in the sand for myriad reasons:- religious, political, medical, social.  Certainly there is a downside insofar as some fatalities will occur as a result but there is a predicted risk of death undertaking almost any human activity from climbing a ladder to crossing the road. Yet individuals accept such risk.  Sooner or later a government will need to govern in the name of the vast majority of those who do not use drugs as well of addicts and experimenters.  The current uncontrolled situation must end even if only to reduce the inevitable violent criminal activity that drug supply leaves in its wake.