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Policy >Transform Briefings
Transform briefings have covered a wide variety of issues, which are archived below under the broad headings of:
Please note some of the content and analysis may be out of date in older briefings (please contact us, or check the fact research guide for up-to-date info and comment/analysis). Tone and content can also reflect the specific audience for which briefings are prepared. Many of the topics covered below have also been explored in Transform's major publications, notably 2009's 'After the war on Drugs: Blueprint for Regulation'.
General (in reverse chronological order)
Security and Development Briefings
International Security and the global war on drugs: The tragic irony of drug securitisation February 2011 (pdf)
Drug policy that promotes security – The paradox of de-securitisation April 2011 (pdf)
Count the Costs Development and Security Briefing March 2011 (pdf)
IDPC Impact Assessment Briefing
IDPC Briefing calling for an Impact Assessment of Drug Policy at the International and National Level April 2010 (pdf)
The Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs
Sumission to the Home Office review of the APC and ACMD November 2009
(pdf)
Review terms of reference here
Impact Assessment
Briefing for the Prime Minister (Rt Hon Gordon Brown)
– Time for an Impact Assessment July 2009 (pdf)
(See also:
What is the true cost of drug law enforcement? Why we need an audit [a related briefing from 2003])
Sentencing
Submission to the Sentencing Council consultation on drug offences June 2011 (pdf)
Submission to the Sentencing Advisory Panel – Consultation on Sentencing For Drug Offences July 2009 (pdf)
Economics
A Comparison of the Cost-effectiveness of Prohibition and Regulation of Drugs
A comparative cost benefit analysis using Home Office analysis compared to speculative modelling under a legal regulatory regime (coinsiders heroin and cocaine use in the UK only). Media coverage/discussion
Titan prisons
Submission to consultation on Titan Prisons August 2008 (pdf)
(Details of the Ministry of Justice consultation can be found here. See also: jointly signed letter from the Criminal Justice Alliance.)
UK Drug Strategy
Submission to the UK Drug Strategy Consultation September 2010 (pdf)
Raises a number of serious concerns about both the consultation process and the contents of the consultation itself.
Submission to 'Drugs: Our Community, Your Say' (Drug Strategy Consultation Paper 2007)
Transform's submission to the Government's 2007 drug strategy consultation
Drug policy 1997-2007 - The evidence un-spun: Overwhelming Failure
This Transform briefing critically reviews the Government's drug policy record between 1997-2007. It analyses and deconstructs claims of success and considers how many of the Government's own targets have been achieved.
The Drug Classification System
Transform's submission to the 2006 Science and Technology Select Committee Inquiry, 'Scientific Advice, Risk and Evidence: How Government Handles Them', using the drug classification system as a case study
UK Policy making
Clause 2 of the Drugs Act
– an example of how to make bad policy
Transform's submission to the Home Office consultation of Clause 2 of the Drugs Act 2005. This clause focuses on threshold amounts and amends Section 5 to create a presumption of intent to supply where the defendant is found to be in possession of a particular amount of controlled drugs, reversing the burden of proof so that the onus is on the defendants to establish they are not dealers
The Drugs Act 2005
Transform's detailed clause by clause critique of the Drugs Bill 2005 (pre-enactment), updated March 2005 (pdf)
(Submitted to, and extensively referenced by, the Home Office and House of Commons' Standing Committee that reviewed the draft Bill. The Drugs Bill has been passed and is now an Act. For extensive comment and documentation on the process see here
Public opinion
Attitudes to Drug Policy and Drug Laws: A review of the international evidence 2004 (pdf),
by Dr Russell Newcombe (published on the Transform website with permission). This unique meta-analysis is the most comprehensive research yet undertaken on the subject, produced by Dr Russell Newcombe, who has been diligently compiling a huge range of studies from the past 15 years.
Prime Mininster's Strategy Unit drugs report, phase 1
The Number 10 Strategy Unit Drugs Report, phase 1: "Understanding the Issues" 2005
A summary briefing on the 2003 drugs report from number 10 Downing Street, including the leaked sections of the report
Prime Minister's Strategy Unit drugs report, phase 2
The Number 10 Strategy Unit Drugs Report, phase 2: "The Birt report" – summary and briefing 2005
For detail, see the phase 1 briefing above
Drug use
Why do people take drugs?
Considers motivations for drug use and how an evolving understanding of these motivations can inform the development of effective drug policy
History of prohibition
Legalisation: the first hundred years
– what happened when drugs were legal and why they were prohibited
Examines the history of prohibition in the 20th century and the lessons for contemporary policy makers
Crime
Drugs and crime
– the link is prohibition
An introductory briefing exploring the links between prohibition and the creation of crime, and the possibilities for significant reductions in crime at all scales through law reform and regulated drug markets was produced by Transform, for a Turning Point conference on drugs and crime (the content reflecting the target audience in the drug treatment community)
Civil Rights
Drug use and civil rights
Considers the civil rights questions raised by drug prohibition, arguing for a new alternative legal framework
Drug supply
'Options for control: drug supply' seminar briefing February 2004
Considers the options for legal control of drug productiona and supply (seminar discussion paper)
Drug demand
'Options for control: managing demand' seminar briefing May 2004
Considers the political issues and implications for managing demand of moves towards legally regulated drug markets (seminar discussion paper)
Economics
What is the true cost of drug law enforcement? Why we need an audit 2003
Transform is calling on the Government to instigate an audit of the effectiveness of enforcing the drug laws in order to expose expenditure to comprehensive scrutiny and to help in the process of defining success and failure. This briefing outlines the need for such an audit
United Nations
United Nations Commission on Narcotic Drugs meeting in Vienna April 2003
This briefing, prepared for the UK delegates to the UN drug summit, examines the impact of current UN policy and makes recommendations for how the UK should tackle the growing crisis. This briefing was also submitted to the Home Affairs Select Committee, and an edited version was published in Statewatch magazine
Individual drugs
Cocaine
Submission to the HASC inquiry on the cocaine trade June 2009 (pdf)
From Soft drink to Hard Drug; A Snapshop History of Coca, Cocaine and Crack
Alcohol
Submission to the Department of Health Consultation on Alcohol Policy October 2008 (pdf)
Details of the DoH's 'Sensible, social
– consultation on further action' here
Alcohol/Drugs
Why this...but not this?
Uses a quote on alcohol harm reduction from Tony Blair to illustrate the dissonance between the way Government deals with legal and illegal drugs
Tobacco
Submission to the Department of Health Consultation on the future of tobacco control September 2008 (pdf)
Details of the DoH Consultation on the future of tobacco control here
Ecstasy
Submission to the ACMD review of ecstasy harms/classification September 2008 (pdf)
Details of the ACMD review here
Piperazines (BZP)
Piperazines – how to regulate an emerging recreational drug not covered by existing legislation October 2006
This briefing, submitteed to the ACMD, examines the options available for controlling this new 'family' of drugs that has emerged on the 'legal high' market in the last few years. It focuses on the experience in New Zealand, where BZP has been classified in a new 'class D' category of drugs which can be sold legally under various licensing conditions
Cannabis
Cannabis reclassification re-revisited 2008
Transform submission to the third ACMD review of cannabis classification
Cannabis reclassification revisted September 2005
Transform submission to the second ACMD review (2005) of cannabis classification
Cannabis reclassification
Cannabis reclassification
Examines the political and policing issues around the decision to reclassify cannabis as a class C drug at the end of January 2004
Ketamine
Submission to the Home Office Ketamine Consultation 2005
Argues that bringing ketamine within the Misuse of drugs Act as a class C drug would increase health- and social disorder-related harms
Psylocybe ('magic') mushrooms
The Magic Roundabout...How to deal with psylocybe mushrooms
Examines the problems with current legislation around 'magic' mushrooms and considers pragmatic ways forward
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