A senior law enforcement official in Britain is calling for the legalization of all drugs – including cocaine and heroin – saying the current drug policy based on “prohibition” has failed.
Richard Brunstrom, Chief Constable of North Wales, told a gathering of police officials on Tuesday that despite efforts to stem the flow of drug, illegal drugs are now cheaper and more plentiful than ever before.
He also said the number of drug users has increased sharply, and drug-related crime has soared as a direct result of the illegality of some drugs, The Independent in Britain reported.
Brunstrom said: “If policy on drugs is in the future to be pragmatic, not moralistic, driven by ethics, not dogma, then the current prohibitionist stance will have to be swept away as both unworkable and immoral. Such a strategy leads inevitably to the legalization and regulation of all drugs.”
Brunstrom’s call for legalization won’t find favor with British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, who wants to intensify the war on drugs. He said earlier this year: “We will send out a clear message that drugs are never going to be decriminalized.”
The Association of Chief Police Officers is also opposed to legalization. A spokesperson said: “Moving to total legalization would, in our view, greatly exacerbate the harm to people in this country, not reduce it.”
But Brunstrom asserted that by legalizing and regulating drugs, the government will “dramatically reduce drug-related criminality and will enable significant funds to be transferred from law enforcement to harm reduction and treatment procedures that are known to work.”
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