A Potential Alternative to Current Drug Policies
Since the Misuse of Drugs Act was passed in 1971, the UK has adopted an abstinence-based drug policy, which believes that recovery is only achievable through quitting all substance use and utilises criminalisation of drug offenders as a punishment and deterrent. However, within the fifty years since the Misuse of Drugs Act passed, the number of drug overdoses and drug-related deaths has only increased in the UK. Since 1996, drug-related deaths in Scotland in particular have increased to some of the worst of any European country.
In a poll by Public First, we explored the public’s opinions on the UK’s current abstinence drug policy and their view on suggested alternatives.
Overall, we found that the public view’s were complicated - and sometimes near contradictory. The public neither seemed to be fully in favour of a ‘just say no’ approach, nor looking for complete legalisation. Half of the respondents, for example, said that they think drug addiction should be treated as a public health issue outside of the criminal system, and just 20% said that they believed that the UK’s abstinence-based drug policy was working to decrease the number of drug users and fatal overdoses. 51% agreed that they would be happy for a drug treatment centre to be built in their borough, compared to just 14% who disagreed.
However, at the same time 51% also believed that drug dealing should continue to be criminalised, 39% that drug users and dealers should be imprisoned for a maximum sentence the first time they get arrested, and 31% that sentence minimums should be increased.
One alternative to either today’s abstinence policy or full decriminalisation might be the greater use of harm reduction policies. Harm reduction drug policies aim to minimise the harmful consequences of drug use by educating communities about safer consumption methods, while also increasing community support for drug addicts. These policies maintain complete abstinence as the overall goal but accept the existence of substance use. There are various types of harm reduction policies including needle/syringe exchange programs, drug consumption rooms, and opioid substitution therapy. These policies have been shown to reduce drug deaths in other European countries.
At the moment, awareness of harm reduction policies among the general public is relatively low. In our polling, 59% had never heard of “harm reduction” as an alternative solution. Even respondents in Scotland, where the Government has been actively pursuing harm reduction measures since 2016, had not heard of harm reduction drug policies before taking our survey.
However, once respondents were given a definition of harm reduction drug policies, they were more positive to have some included in the UK’s wider drug policy. Only 28% of respondents did not want any of these harm reduction alternatives to be included in the UK’s drug policy. Most notably, respondents wanted to see greater community outreach programs (37%), needle/syringe exchange programs (36%), and drug checking service at large events (31%). These policies were all more popular than criminalising drug consumption (23%) or criminalising drug possession, even for personal use.
Labour supporters and younger respondents, aged between 18-24 years old, were particularly likely to want harm reduction programs included in the national drug policy. Together, this suggests that as public awareness grows, these policies could be increasingly likely to be included as part of the UK’s policy response to drugs.
