Something needs to be done about drugs in UK

Yes, because the US have no issues in respect of drugs do they....

Christ the night

Many drug users are also passively suicidal and mental health is in their boots. Many of those caught drug smuggling are being exploited because they are vulnerable. These are not the people we want to target with the death penalty.

@RegretMisery you say 'illegal drugs' don't serve a purpose. What about 'legal' ones?
Heroin/diamorphine (latter being legal version) can be less dangerous than fentanyl.
Alcohol is more dangerous than pretty much everything.
Amphetamines are commonly used to treat ADHD etc.
Cannabis is now prescribed medicinally.
Ketamine is used legally.
Benzos are massively addictive both legally and illegally
So, it's the same stuff. The only damage is that people are branded criminals.
Drugs work. Sorry but it's true.
'something should be done'
Criminalise white wine then 20 minutes later, half way through your glass, you can go to prison for 50 years?
You don't understand human need or addiction very well in my view.

Shame they don't prosecute gun dealers with the same zeal. Although to be fair guns are pretty harmless compared to weed.

And also this^

Because there's a massive link because physical/ emotional trauma and addiction.

So if you want to genuinely tackle addiction again you need to have a government that is willing to invest heavily in the NHS, in community resources, in more research into appropriate long term pain management, heavier implications for unsafe workplace practices, early intervention work, a better resourced education system, more resources for young people in terms of safe spaces to socialise, a more robust and ethical care system, better, longer term, faster and free mental health services.

But we have a government who is chronically underfunding all of the above. So naturally, when you under cut community resourcing, you're going to find an increase in community based problems such as drug use. If you want to tackle the problem that's where you start.

Drugs are for mugs ugly old people!

In answer to the question in your OP, some US prosecutors are starting to prosecute drug dealers with manslaughter. Or so I heard on a Times podcast the other day about the fentanyl crisis.

I know a lady who used to go regularly to get cannabis from a street dealer for her daughter, who had MS. It was the only thing that helped with her pain. The poor woman was in her late 70s and couldn't get any help from the NHS at all.

@RegretMisery

"Put down the pipe."

Not sure how that is relevant to my comment. Are you trying to imply that I am currently on drugs?!? I'm at work. So no I'm not. It's not something I do generally any more as I am old. And I've never smoked any drugs via a pipe anyhow.

The staying clean from rehab rates are shockingly bad.

What about ugly people in their 30s?

Is it ok if they’re old and ugly?

Also in my experience I've found to this to be untrue. Many people misusing drugs especially non injectable drugs are not fully informed on the harm they cause or the damage it can cause them. This is especially true the younger the person using is. So much of harm reduction work is also education based. Eg. Why it's important to smoke rather than inject and the difference it can have to someone's safety.

Are you disputing the fact that illegal drugs are enjoyable for some people?

Im not even talking about your “junkie” types. I know a lot of professional people with “good” jobs who occasionally do a few lines on a Friday, or smoke a joint on a Tuesday. I know people who take a few pills at a rave every six months.

Am I one of them? No. Does it look like they have fun? Yes. Are they addicted or junkies or bad people? No.

It isn't always as simple as going to meetings. Meetings are a great way to maintain a drug free life style, access ongoing peer support AFTER the detox, the psychiatric support and the help/counselling regarding the ADHD, or the abuse in childhood or whatever else is going on is addressed. But those are the things that it is almost impossible to get help with, certainly not without money.

Deterrents don't work when the risk of being caught is very, very low. Which in the UK it is. The reason that deterrent sentences appear to work well in Singapore is because there is a reasonably high chance of drug smugglers being caught - it's a tiny island with two bridges, one harbour, and one airport connecting it to the rest of the world.

It's almost as if that doesn't fit the narrative

I'm really curious as to what info you're basing the term catastrophic on? And what aspects of harm reduction centres you're referring to?

There is good, solid research behind the use of safe injection sites for example. People have a better chance of getting clean when they are alive. Merely creating tougher sentencing for drug use or distribution would just put more people in prison. And of course there are no drugs there! And people come back out with such good support and opportunities that it's easier to stay clean... we know criminalisation doesn't work. If someone does manage to get clean in prison, they still don't have the skills or support to stay clean outside of prison in an entirely different set of circumstances.

The problems that exist regarding substance misuse vary by country depending on the type of drugs being misused. For example in the US, the ability of pharmaceutical companies to privately market oxy is unethical. Many communities with high rates of physical labour are more closely associated with certain types of substance use linked to pain relief. Where I live due to historical trauma the main drug use is related to benzos and 'downers' because people with higher rates of adrenaline through trauma are more inclined to want to shut off that part of their system.

If you want to treat addiction, you need to treat the social problems relating to it. You need to treat the community cause. And that means working alongside people while they are using. Which involves harm reductionist approaches.

I've worked with many people who misuse substances, harm reductionist approaches have a very important place but they often seem scary to people who don't fully understand why they are needed. I know people who I believe to only be alive (and now clean) because of that type of work.

The trouble is, they absolutely do serve a purpose. Most people who develop serious addiction issues are self-medicating for untreated or poorly treated mental health conditions and neurodiversity.

To say nothing of conditions like MS, where cannabis can be a godsend.

Why are you banging on about Canada, rather than somewhere closer to home such as Portugal which decriminalized 24 years ago and has lower rates of drug use, and lower rates of drug deaths than the EU average?