Legalize drugs.

                                                                                    

I hate drugs.
Ever since I had a nightmarish  LSD trip that nearly lost me my sanity as a teenage girl I have been totally opposed to them.
But nevertheless I believe drugs should be legalized.
In an article in the Sunday Times this morning concerning the epidemic of knife crime in Britain- crimes almost always related to drug trafficking gangs- Lord Hogan-Howe, the London Metropolitan police commissioner in 2011-17 is arguing for more police officers to be deployed, pointing out the escalation in drug use and the market forces that controls the trade.

"We have seen a huge rise in the supply of cocaine into the UK and Europe over the past two years. We cannot grow cocaine. It is an import and 90% comes from Colombia where bumper harvests have caused the price to drop and violence to rise. When the market is stable, the violence levels are stable. When supply drops, the criminals compete for business. When the price falls, the criminals compete for business. It is not a pretty sight. This is not a regulated market.
The distribution routes have changed. Once it is in the country then it must be moved around. Hence “county lines”, where drugs are sent by road and rail around the country. Now very young people are carrying the drugs and money and are using violence. The ordering system has gone online and works through social networks. Apparently, pizza deliveries are slower than your street dealer’s logistics chain."

I don't believe we can stop people from using drugs. But I do think that if whatever drugs people want to use were sold through government controlled  selling points, a little like the system of selling alcohol in Sweden, it would pull the rug from underneath a huge section of organized crime, which is often fuelled by the drug trade. And  the vast revenue which would be generated could be used in programs  both to detox and  to educate and tackle the underlying problems which drives people to using drugs in the first place. And the A+E wards would be cleared  of  people who have taken filthy heroin mixed with god-knows-what.
I know this is hardly a new argument but it is one worth revisiting in the light of the current knife crime epidemic. Let's take away the temptation  of making good money by belonging to a drug dealing gang!