Prohibition is an ideologically driven failure

doi:10.1136/bmj.39402.477639.BE

BMJ 2007;335:1060 (24 November), doi:10.1136/bmj.39402.477639.BE

Letters

Should drugs be decriminalised?

Prohibition is an ideologically driven failure

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

Califano's objections to legal regulation of illicit drugs arebased on misrepresentation of the reform position bolsteredby irrelevant, cherry picked, or misleading facts.¹ A similarpiece appeared in the Financial Times² and was systematicallycritiqued in the paper's economists' forum.³ While Califano'srhetoric has since been moderated, and facts fine tuned, theconceptual flaws remain.

The example of Zurich's "needle park" misrepresents legalisationas heroin was never legally supplied. As an experimental tolerancezone it was a failure. Yet, Califano fails to mention that thegovernment responded by legalising heroin. It set up clinicsfor long term users, where legally prescribed heroin was usedunder supervision. The success of this approach on key social,health, and criminal justice indicators led to its replicationby many countries including Canada, Australia, and much of mainlandEurope. The UK is piloting a similar scheme.

Califano relates Italy's high heroin addiction rate to . . . [Full text of this article]

Stephen A Rolles, information officer

Transform Drug Policy Foundation, Easton Business Centre, Bristol BS8 OHE

steve@tdpf.org.uk