Beautiful Virgin Islands

Tuesday, Jun 24, 2025

You’ll never have a drug-free society, expert warns UK

You’ll never have a drug-free society, expert warns UK

Consortium on drugs policy blasts Home Office for approach to tackling narcotic abuse

The Home Office should climb off its “high horse of oppression and prohibition” and stop pursuing the “fantasy” of a drug-free society, the chair of an influential international consortium on drug policy has said.

As a new global index is set to rank each country’s approach to tackling narcotics, former New Zealand prime minister and chair of the Global Commission on Drug Policy, Helen Clark, said that the UK was fixated with a “self-defeating” strategy to the issue that bred misery.

Clark also said that the Home Office’s approach to drug policy meant it deterred police and crime commissioners in England and Wales who might otherwise advocate for a more liberal strategy.

“The Home Office is a major problem. It’s not thinking outside the box. In the UK, you have crime commissioners and there’s more scope for discretion at the local level with some prepared to push the boundary,” Clark told the Observer.

“But to get that consistently across the United Kingdom, you need the Home Office to get off its high horse of oppression and prohibition and say: ‘Look, we’ve had this wrong, our prisons are thronged with people on drug offences, marginalised swathes of people. It’s costly and self-defeating,” added Clark, whose commission is made up largely of world leaders.

By contrast, she praised Scotland for recognising it had problems – the country has the highest per capita number of deaths relating to drug use in Europe – and signalling that it wanted to look for new solutions.

“Scotland knows it’s shameful. After the last set of [fatality] figures came out, the Scottish government wants to [make a] move,” said Clark.

Her comments come just before the inaugural edition of the global drug policy index which ranks countries according to indicators such as health and harm reduction rather than the traditional law enforcement measures of the numbers of arrests or amount of drugs seized.

Helen Clark, former prime minister of New Zealand and chair of the Global Commission on Drug Policy, has told the UK it must change its approach to drug abuse.


According to the latest National Crime Agency annual report, more than 150 tonnes of drugs were seized at a time when deaths from drug poisoning in England and Wales have hit a record high, prompting charities to warn of a public health emergency.
Advertisement

The index, headed by the International Drug Policy Consortium, a global network of 192 organisations, is intended to question the ambition of achieving a “drug-free society”, which Clark says is futile.

“It’s a fantasy, the total elimination of drugs? Dream on, there’s never been a time in human history where human beings haven’t resorted to some kind of substances that will take them out of their current reality for whatever reason,” she said.

The index arrives 50 years after the UK’s Misuse of Drugs Act came into force, which still forms the basis of its anti-drug strategy – separating illicit substances into classes which carry different penalties – but which is facing increasing calls for reform.

A number of prominent campaigners are pushing for the decriminalisation and regulation of drugs with more than 60 MPs supporting a campaign to review current legislation.

Despite this, the UK is expected to sit in the top 10 of the index’s most progressive countries when it is launched in London on Monday, a ranking that Clark says articulates the current failures of global drug policy.

The index is composed of 75 indicators including criminal justice and extreme responses of the state to the issue. Of the 30 countries featured in its first iteration, eight had decriminalised drug use and just three managed to divert people away from the criminal justice system.

A Home Office spokesperson said: “Drugs damage communities and ruin lives. We must prevent drug use in our communities, support people through treatment and recovery, and tackle the supply of illegal drugs.”

They cited Project ADDER, which it said was “taking a wide-ranging and integrated approach to prevent drug use and support people dependent on drugs through treatment and recovery”.

Newsletter

Related Articles

Beautiful Virgin Islands
0:00
0:00
Close
“You Have 12 Hours to Flee”: Israeli Threat Campaign Targets Surviving Iranian Officials
Macron and Merz: Europe must arm itself in an unstable world
Germany and Italy Under Pressure to Repatriate $245bn of Gold from US Vaults
Airlines Evaluate Flight Cancellations Amid Escalating US-Iran Tensions
Starmer Invites Innovators to Join Government Talent Scheme
UK Economy’s Strong Opening Quarter Shows Signs of Cooling
Harrods Seeks Court Order to Secure Al Fayed Estate for Victims
BA and Singapore Airlines Cancel Dubai Flights Amid Middle East Tensions
Trump Faces Backlash from MAGA Base Over Iran Strikes
Meta Bets $14 B on Alexandr Wang to Drive AI Ambitions
WATCH: Israeli forces show the aftermath of a massive airstrike at Iran's Isfahan nuclear site
FedEx Founder Fred Smith, ‘Heart and Soul’ of the Company, Dies at 80
Chinese Factories Shift Away from U.S. Amid Trump‑Era Tariffs
Pimco Seizes Opportunity in Japan’s Dislocated Bond Market
Labubu Doll Drives Pop Mart to Status as China’s Most Valuable Toy Maker
Global Coal Demand Defies Paris Accord Goals
We have new information and breaking details to share about what is shaping up to be a historic air campaign tonight
Six Massive Bombs Dropped on Fordow; Trump: 'A Historic Moment for the U.S., Israel, and the World'
Fordow: Deeply Buried Iranian Enrichment Site in U.S.–Israel Crosshairs
United States Conducts Precision Strikes on Iran’s Nuclear Sites
US strikes Iran nuclear sites, Trump says
Pakistan to nominate Trump for Nobel Peace Prize.
BBC Demands Perplexity AI Immediately Stop Using Its Content
Telegram Founder: I Will Leave My Fortune to Over 100 of My Children
Political Turmoil Resurfaces in Belgium Amid Economic Concerns
Fed policymakers divided on timing of interest rate cuts
Trump signals imminent agreement with Harvard University
Inheritance tax referendum alarms Swiss billionaire community
Japan cancels bilateral security meeting amid US defence demands
AI skeptic Emily Bender warns that ‘the emperor has no clothes’
Israel Confirms Assassination of Quds Force Commander in Tehran
16 Billion Login Credentials Leaked in Unprecedented Cybersecurity Breach
Senate hearing on who was 'really running' Biden White House kicks off
Iranian Military Officers Reportedly Seek Contact with Reza Pahlavi, Signal Intent to Defect
FBI and Senate Investigate Allegations of Chinese Plot to Influence the 2020 Election in Biden’s Favor Using Fake U.S. Driver’s Licenses
Vietnam Emerges as Luxury Yacht Destination for Ultra‑Rich
Plans to Sell Dutch Embassy in Bangkok Face Local Opposition
China's Iranian Oil Imports Face Disruption Amid Escalating Middle East Tensions
Trump's $5 Million 'Trump Card' Visa Program Draws Nearly 70,000 Applicants
DGCA Finds No Major Safety Concerns in Air India's Boeing 787 Fleet
Airlines Reroute Flights Amid Expanding Middle East Conflict Zones
Elon Musk's xAI Seeks $9.3 Billion in Funding Amid AI Expansion
Trump Demands Iran's Unconditional Surrender Amid Escalating Conflict
Israeli Airstrike Targets Iranian State TV in Central Tehran
President Trump is leaving the G7 summit early and has ordered the National Security Council to the Situation Room
Taiwan Imposes Export Ban on Chips to Huawei and SMIC
Israel has just announced plans to strike Tehran again, and in response, Trump has urged people to evacuate
Netanyahu Signals Potential Regime Change in Iran
Juncker Criticizes EU Inaction on Trump Tariffs
EU Proposes Ban on New Russian Gas Contracts
×