Prohibition Still Doesn't Work

Stephen Pollard argues that this piece by Antonio Maria Costa, formerly Executive Director at the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, “simply rips apart the dangerously sloppy thinking from those who argue for the legalisation of hard (and soft) drugs.” Well, that’s one way of looking at it.

Alternatively, one can think it profoundly misleading and alarmist. Costa argues that any attempts to introduce sanity (that’s not how he describes it) to the drug conversation will inevitably produce a sharp rise in drug use, and consequently addiction. Leaving aside the philosophical debates about drug-use, this is an argument that while intuitively plausible isn’t necessarily endorsed by the evidence available.

As it so often the case these days, Portugal is the poster-country for reform. True, Portugal didn’t legalise the drug trade but decriminalising drugs – both hard and soft – has not led to an increase in drug consumption. Indeed, nine years on there is no demand for returning to the old, failed policies of the past.