Dear [MEP],
Parents Against Lethal Addictive Drugs (PALAD) is
a North Wales voluntary organisation campaigning for
improved drug policies. Our focus is on the harmful
use of lethal addictive drugs - tobacco, alcohol,
heroin and cocaine - the drugs that cause most harm
both to users and others. PALAD believes harm to user
should be dealt with through health education,
allowing informed choice and individual
responsibility for health. Harm to others alone
should be dealt with through legal regulations. We
would like you to consider supporting moves in Europe
and at the UN to reform UN Conventions which
currently limit the harm reduction strategies the
Government and Welsh Assembly are beginning to
implement.
We support North Wales Chief Constable Richard
Brunstrom's view that illegal drugs should be
properly regulated as legal drugs are. Alcohol
Concern and ASH both feel that the prohibition of
illegal drugs gives the false impression, especially
to young people, that legal drugs are safer than
illegal ones. The Home Affairs Select Committee (HASC)
report 'Government Drugs Policy: Is it Working?'
states that "9. Legal drugs, such as tobacco and
alcohol, are responsible for far greater damage both
to individual health and to the social fabric in
general than illegal ones" (see below for
details). For example, Government reports show that
tobacco is more addictive than heroin, that tobacco
addicts have a death rate several times higher than
those addicted to street-quality heroin and that,
unlike heroin, tobacco addicts kill hundreds of
innocent people in the UK annually (passive smoking).
We agree with the Home Office guidance "we need
to continue referring to alcohol, tobacco and
caffeine as drugs" (p.40, 'Let's Get Real -
communicating with the public about drugs') and the
Government's '10 Year Strategy for Tackling Drug
Misuse' when it says "legally obtainable
substances such as alcohol, tobacco ... should ... be
addressed ... within the strategy". The Welsh
Assembly's 'Tackling Substance Misuse in Wales'
states that "Substance misuse.... involves both
illegal and legal substances" and that "This
strategy covers the full range of substances that are
misused in Wales".
The HASC report concluded "...we believe the
time has come for the international treaties to be
reconsidered" and recommended that "...the
Government initiates a discussion within the [UN's]
Commission on Narcotic Drugs of alternative ways
including the possibility of legalisation and
regulation to tackle the global drugs dilemma."
Chris Mullin, the chairman of the Committee, said
"attempts to combat illegal drugs by means of
law enforcement have proved so manifestly
unsuccessful that it is difficult to argue for the
status quo."
PALAD urges you to consider supporting the 100+
MEPs who have signed a draft recommendation to ask
for the reform of the UN Conventions relating to
drugs. The UN's mid-term UNGASS review is scheduled
for 8-16 April 2003 in Vienna. Details can be
obtained from Chris Davies MEP, or contact us.
Many people disagree with these views. If you
disagree we would be grateful if you could let us
know your reasons. Yours sincerely,
Government & WHO quotes
referring to harm to user and harm to others:
Health:
UK Scientific Committee on Tobacco and Health
report 1998:
"1.39 Smoking is the most important cause of
premature death in developed countries. It accounts
for one fifth of deaths in the UK: some 120,000
deaths a year".
Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs report
'Reducing Drug-Related Deaths':
"between 28,000 and 33,000 people die annually
as a result of alcohol."
Government's 'Ten Year Strategy for Tackling
Drugs':
"the number of deaths in the UK attributable to
the misuse of [illegal] drugs has risen from 1,399 in
1993 to 1,805 in 1995."
Home Affairs Select Committee report 'Government
Drugs Policy: Is it Working?':
"9. Legal drugs, such as tobacco and alcohol,
are responsible for far greater damage both to
individual health and to the social fabric in general
than illegal ones".
Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs report
'The classification of cannabis under the Misuse of
Drugs Act 1971':
"5.1 The high use of cannabis is not associated
with major health problems for the individual or
society."
The World Health Organisation's report 'Cannabis:
a health perspective and research agenda':
"cannabis poses a much less serious public
health problem than is currently posed by alcohol and
tobacco in Western societies".
Addictiveness:
Department of Health's booklet 'Dangerousness of
Drugs' 2001:
p.60: "What this would suggest is that tobacco
has the greatest potential for dependence followed by
heroin, then cocaine and alcohol. Cannabis has the
lowest 'addictability' of all the drugs listed above."
Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs report
'The classification of cannabis under the Misuse of
Drugs Act 1971':
"4.4.5 It is possible to rank the risks of
dependence of abused drugs with heroin and crack
cocaine the worst and cannabis well below nicotine
and alcohol".
Crime and harm to others:
The World Health Organisation's report 'Cannabis:
a health perspective and research agenda':
"Alcohol intoxication is strongly associated
with aggressive and violent behaviour." "There
is little to suggest a causal relationship of
cannabis use to aggression or violence."
Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs report
'The classification of cannabis under the Misuse of
Drugs Act 1971':
"4.3.6 Cannabis differs from alcohol, however,
in one major respect: it seems not to increase risk-taking
behaviour. Cannabis intoxication tends to produce
relaxation and social withdrawal rather than the
aggressive and disinhibited behaviour commonly found
under the influence of alcohol. This means that
cannabis rarely contributes to violence either to
others or to oneself, whereas alcohol use is a major
factor in deliberate self-harm, domestic accidents
and violence."
UK Scientific Committee on Tobacco and Health
report 1998:
Annex H: "passive smoking in non-smokers ....
could account for several hundred lung cancer deaths
per annum in the UK."
