Sir, – The Cannabis Risk Alliance – a group of doctors – states that they are opposed to the decriminalisation of cannabis on the basis that Ireland is being "led down the path of cannabis legalisation" (Letters, May 22nd).
The authors appear to believe that criminalising people who use drugs is an effective way to deter people from using them.
As a group of experts on drug policy, we wish to stress that this is not the case.
Evidence worldwide clearly shows that societies with tougher drug laws do not have lower rates of drug use than those with less repressive regimes. But the damage caused by unnecessary criminal records and the costs of law enforcement and public health working at cross-purposes are now clear.
The ideas underpinning criminalisation came from a different era, one where our understandings of drug dependence and consumption were limited by an absence of science and compassion for individuals who use drugs.
The science has moved on, as have societal norms, as evidenced in Ireland’s recent referendums.
To be clear, cannabis use carries risks, especially for young people. But a basic test of the effectiveness of public policy is whether the harms of the response outweigh the social issues it is seeking to address.
In the case of drugs, the evidence of damage and failure from harsh and repressive approaches provides the urgent imperative to protect people from needless criminalisation.
As a society, this is perhaps one point upon which all should agree, whatever one’s views on the legalisation of cannabis. – Yours, etc,
Dr DAMON BARRETT,
University of Gothenburg;
Prof LEO BELETSKY,
Northeastern University;
Prof DAVID
BEWLEY TAYLOR,
Swansea University;
Prof JULIA BUXTON,
Central European
University;
Dr JOHN COLLINS,
The London School
of Economics
and Political Science;
Dr JOANNE CSETE,
Columbia University;
Dr JULIE HANNAH,
University of Essex;
Dr MAGDALENA HARRIS,
The London School
of Hygiene and
Tropical Medicine;
Prof CARL HART,
Columbia University;
Prof MICHAEL LYNSKEY,
King’s College London
Dr ANNE SCHLAG,
King’s College London;
Dr NICHOLAS
THOMPSON,
The London School
of Hygiene
and Tropical Medicine;
Dr DAN WERB,
University of California,
San Diego.