MODA - impact assessment - e-petition

[NegativeCreep]

Hi folks - whether you think e-petitions are worth bothering or not ....

Laws should not do more harm than good and government spending on many crucial services is being cut. The evidence is increasingly clear that the Misuse of Drugs Act is a counter-productive waste of taxpayers money. I'm supporting Caroline Lucas's call for an impact assessment to look at alternatives. If you think it's time for better laws in this area please join me and sign it.

Misuse of Drugs Act 1971 - Impact Assessment

Responsible department: Home Office

Drug related harms and the costs to society remain high in Britain, with a growing consensus that the current enforcement led approach is not working. In recent months the independent UK Drugs Policy Commission has highlighted the fact that Government is spending around £3 billion a year on a policy that is often self-defeating; and the Home Affairs Select Committee has concluded Government action is needed "now, more than ever" to consider all the alternatives to our failing drug laws and learn from countries that have adopted a more evidence based approach. We are concerned that, in this age of austerity, nobody is checking whether Britain's current approach is value for money - or money wasted. We therefore call on the Government to commission an authoritative and independent cost-benefit analysis and impact assessment of the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971 within the next 12 months, in order to provide the evidence for Parliament to pursue a more effective drugs policy in the future.

h**p://epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/45969

NC

[hairy face]

Signed

[JimmyPage]

Or, alternatively, enforce the MoDA properly ?

[Darwin]

Done!

[NegativeCreep]

haha indeed

Or, alternatively, enforce the MoDA properly ?

[sunshine band]

The point about enforcement of the Act properly is something being missed by the entire movement bar a few knowledeable people here and there. Transform and release spring to mind as ineffectual in transforming the impasse because they give away far too much - in fact they seem to buy into the whole prohibitionist construct and deception, thus making ineffectual demands for 'legalising' or '-de-criminalising' certain drugs, or as they take care to point out, de-criminalise the possession of currently 'illegal drugs'. The whole thing buys into the smoke and mirrors deception that is the trick the government are playing on us, to propoagate the myth that the law controls drugs at all, what it does is eneffectually control us with respect to drugs. The only issue really to be settled is how do we balance liberty with reasonable controls to reduce social harms caused by drug misuse. The Act we have can do that admirably, but as has been pointed out here, it is being misadministered because at heart, human rights simply do not matter to a society that believes it is regulating drugs as opposed to the effects of drugs on users, and thus regulating principally those people who are being so 'affected' by their choices. We must distinguish between peaceful and problematic drug-related outcomes, and it is this very differentiation that became impossible via the reversal or subject (us) and object (drugs) in the way the system is described in words. Failure to deal with this is the problem, to suggest that the Act needs scrapping as Lucas has is akin to letting the government off the hook for their abuse of powers in applying the Act properly. The latest Sativex con agreed with the ACMD is the natural follow on from allowing tobacco and alcohol giants free reign to sell recreational drugs in a skewed market run as a protection racket to preserve vested interests.

[NegativeCreep]

Well said and I agree completely. I signed the petition in order to ... hopefully ... get a dialogue going, but I appreciate that it isn't the MoDA that is the problem.

For those who are unclear about the issue raised by sunshine band and JimmyPage - check here for clarity: h**p://www.drugequality.org/

The point about enforcement of the Act properly is something being missed by the entire movement bar a few knowledeable people here and there. Transform and release spring to mind as ineffectual in transforming the impasse because they give away far too much - in fact they seem to buy into the whole prohibitionist construct and deception, thus making ineffectual demands for 'legalising' or '-de-criminalising' certain drugs, or as they take care to point out, de-criminalise the possession of currently 'illegal drugs'. The whole thing buys into the smoke and mirrors deception that is the trick the government are playing on us, to propoagate the myth that the law controls drugs at all, what it does is eneffectually control us with respect to drugs. The only issue really to be settled is how do we balance liberty with reasonable controls to reduce social harms caused by drug misuse. The Act we have can do that admirably, but as has been pointed out here, it is being misadministered because at heart, human rights simply do not matter to a society that believes it is regulating drugs as opposed to the effects of drugs on users, and thus regulating principally those people who are being so 'affected' by their choices. We must distinguish between peaceful and problematic drug-related outcomes, and it is this very differentiation that became impossible via the reversal or subject (us) and object (drugs) in the way the system is described in words. Failure to deal with this is the problem, to suggest that the Act needs scrapping as Lucas has is akin to letting the government off the hook for their abuse of powers in applying the Act properly. The latest Sativex con agreed with the ACMD is the natural follow on from allowing tobacco and alcohol giants free reign to sell recreational drugs in a skewed market run as a protection racket to preserve vested interests.

NC

[Guest SmokeyDraw]

Done. :-)

[marmaduke80]

I am sorry for spamming but this needs to be spammed!

Responsible department: Home Office

Drug related harms and the costs to society remain high in Britain, with a growing consensus that the current enforcement led approach is not working. In recent months the independent UK Drugs Policy Commission has highlighted the fact that Government is spending around £3 billion a year on a policy that is often self-defeating; and the Home Affairs Select Committee has concluded Government action is needed "now, more than ever" to consider all the alternatives to our failing drug laws and learn from countries that have adopted a more evidence based approach. We are concerned that, in this age of austerity, nobody is checking whether Britain's current approach is value for money - or money wasted. We therefore call on the Government to commission an authoritative and independent cost-benefit analysis and impact assessment of the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971 within the next 12 months, in order to provide the evidence for Parliament to pursue a more effective drugs policy in the future.

[Grimweeder]

thanks for posting, i signed it already.

[marmaduke80]

thanks for posting, i signed it already.

can you do it again a few thousand times? heh

[sam-i-am]

Or, alternatively, enforce the MoDA properly ?

Or do an impact assessment into the misapplication of the MDA?

[blankSteve]

Tried to sign. It said I can not sign again.

I can not remember signing this pettition before.

Bloody Indicas !

Blank

[sunshine band]

What upsets me is that none of these reformists are asking what the primary law says now - they all accept that what the govt are doing must be what the law says. I am sick of them ignorring the fact that the MDA is being MISUSED and can be used without any new Act of Parliament to make everything work fairly and properly.

[Freewheelin Franklin]

Ok friends, we all know that NO mainstream politician is going to stick their neck out to get a kicking off the Daily Fail etc. However the country is fortunate enough to have a "wild card" in the form of Caroline Lucas, the green MP from Brighton. She is asking for a review of the 1971 Act so that the ridiculous amount of money and effort being wasted on the current policy can be shown to be justified or else the policy changed.

If we want to change UK drug laws it will have to be from the people, not the leadership (as it has been in parts of the USA already), so I urge you all to sign it and share it and hopefully we'll be able to play a part in ending this draconian regime.

Not allowed to post a link, but it's easy enough to find.