Positive thinking

Ian Hamilton, University of York and Harry Sumnall, Liverpool John Moores University The Conservative government abruptly and unexpectedly lifted restrictions on medicinal cannabis in 2018. This is viewed by some as a necessary prelude to a more liberal approach to recreational drug use. Certainly, recent opinion polls suggest the British public support legalisation - even if they are unsure of Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s views on this. Predicting what will happen with drug policy is difficult , but here are three reasons a shift in cannabis policy could well happen. 1. Voter appeal Such a shift would appeal to younger voters, while not necessarily riling traditional (and new) Conservative supporters. Tailoring a message to these differing groups is something Dominic Cummings has proved to be adept at. Health-orientated responses to drugs tend to be better supported by younger people. In contrast, criminal justice is the priority for older people and those who ...

Ian Hamilton, University of York and Niamh Eastwood, Middlesex University Once a year we get a glimpse of how many people are using drugs such as heroin and cocaine in England and Wales. The Home Office conducts an annual household survey that asks people if they have used drugs and, if they have, to provide some details about which drugs and how often they have consumed them. For the fourth year in a row, overall drug use has risen. An interesting fact on its own, but as always, the devil is in the detail. Class A drugs including cocaine are proving to be popular, second only to cannabis in popularity. Nearly a million people now report using the drug. Fewer people report using opiates, such as heroin – but this is largely due to limitations of the survey which, as a household exercise, will not pick up certain groups, such as the homeless or other transient populations. Equally, the survey will not capture the experience of students – another important cohort. ...

Ian Hamilton, University of York ; Harry Sumnall, Liverpool John Moores University , and Mark Monaghan, Loughborough University There have long been scare stories about drugs so we need to be careful when interpreting new drug use data. But recent reports suggest that crack cocaine use is on the rise again. Crack emerged in the Americas in the late 1970s as a relatively cheap and transportable form of cocaine that could be more easily distributed than the powdered variety and soon led to what was widely described as an “epidemic” , especially in the US. Supporters of drug reform in the US have long highlighted the uneven application of the law concerning crack and powder cocaine. Referred to as the “100-1 Rule” , until the passing of the 2010 Fair Sentencing Act , possession of one gram of crack in America was treated as the equivalent of 100g of powder cocaine. As crack use was associated with the black, urban poor and powder cocaine with the more affluent wh...