The report sent to the then home secretary by the former chair of the Advisory Council for the Misuse of Drugs highlighted a number of serious concerns around criminalising drug use. It is the only ACMD report not to have been published.
It said there was “little consistent international evidence that the criminalisation for possession of drugs for personal use is effective in reducing drug use”, that the UK was not required to criminalise drug use under its treaty obligations, and that criminalisation harmed people’s educational and employment prospects.
This is the best summary I could come up with:
This month, the UK government unveiled plans to jail people for up to two years for possessing laughing gas unless it was being used legitimately in catering or medicine.
“Their behaviour demonstrates a desire to deny any expert evidence that would reveal their persisting criminalisation approach to be illogical, inhuman and ineffective,” he added.
If the recommendation had been published at the time, it would have informed lawmaking and public debate – accelerating much-needed reforms and reducing the catastrophic impacts of the UK’s failed drug laws.”
Helen Clark, the former prime minister of New Zealand and chair of the Global Commission on Drug Policy, which campaigns for reform, said: “It would be commendable if the UK government were now to accept and act on this advice.”
MPs on the home affairs select committee this year questioned the minister for policing, Chris Philp, over the report but he refused to be drawn on its contents.
Nevertheless, a first-tier tribunal in January dismissed the Home Office’s confidentiality argument, but accepted that drug policy reform discussions were “live at the relevant time”, thus protecting the report from disclosure.
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