Prohibition and Crime

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).

The Turning Point conference briefing can be read here:

Drugs and crime - the link is prohibition
This briefing illustrates how:

• Historically,drug prohibitions have been terminated after causing more problems than the drugs themselves.
• The collision of drug prohibition and rising demand for drugs has led to the creation of illegal markets and crime on a massive scale.
• Drug prohibition turns otherwise law-abiding citizens into criminals and fuels crime at all levels.
• Attempts to enforce prohibition are expensive, ineffective and counterproductive, exacerbating problems they are intended to solve.
• Drug use and misuse should be treated, once more, as a health and social issue. A just and effective policy humane would repeal prohibition and replace it with a legal system of regulation and control.
  
  
  It concludes with a call to treatment providers and the harm reduction movement to challenge a system that maximises harm for problematic users.

See Also, In Published Articles:

Ending the Guns-Drugs Connection
Danny Kushlick. The Times, Tuesday October 12, 2004
Considers the link between between drug prohibition and gun crime in light of the latest tragic shooting

The true price of prohibition
Danny Kushlick. Published in the Guardian, August 6, 2004
"Drug-related crime costs more than the Home Office's annual budget, but treatment for users is underfunded and locked into punishment".

Further reading (non Transform):

Making sense of Drugs and Crime, - Drugs, Crime and Penal Policy - A Report of the Scottish Consortium on Crime and Criminal Justice

This report (2002) is a detailed, thoughtful and well researched examination of issues around the links between drugs and crime and appropriate policy responses. The report is particularly strong on conceptualising the drugs and crime debate and contextualising the issue within wider social policy.

"Some system of drugs control and regulation is inevitable. The issue is where the main emphasis in policy should lie – whether in public health and social policy or in penal policy. From the accumulated evidence and experience, a broad, integrated social policy approach is required in order to reduce the levels and seriousness of drug and alcohol related crime – for drug users, victims of crimes and communities shattered by the impact of drugs. In that context, the criminal justice system can make an important, albeit limited, contribution. The primary aim of this report is to stimulate public debate about what that contribution could and should be." (p.6)

Click on the link above to read the full report (in pdf format)

Rethinking Crime & Punishment - The Report

This report has been produced by The Esmee Fairbairn Foundation rethinking crime and punishment project which has been running for the past 4 years. The report critiques many areas of UK penal policy and makes detailed recommendations for progressive reforms. It has a chapter on dealing with problem drug users, and includes a suggestion made by Transform (for an independent audit of the effectiveness of drug law enforcement spending) amongst its recommendations.