Roger Howard, Chief Executive of the UK Drug Policy Commission writes:

If you have more than a passing interest in (illicit) drug policy, you could be forgiven for thinking one of two diametrically opposed things at the moment.

If you naturally gravitate to the anti ‘war on drugs’ camp you are probably feeling pretty good at the moment. Two states in the US (Washington and Colorado) recently voted to legalise the production and sale of marijuana and some 18 states doctors are allowed to prescribe medical marijuana. In Uruguay, the government has taken the unprecedented step of tabling legislation to licence growers manufacturers, distributors and purchasers of cannabis so that in 2014 you’ll be able to register as a cannabis user and be able to buy the monthly equivalent of about 20 cannabis spliffs . And on top of this, a widening group of South American political leaders is challenging the US drug policy hegemony. The Organisation of American States has taken the previously unthinkable step of setting up a task group to look at different drug policy options, even though the US remains firmly against so-called ‘legalisation’. All of this might give you hope that the mass incarceration, drug fuelled crime and global ill-health, whether physical or psychological might just be at a crucial tipping-point in the history of drug policy.

On the other hand, if you are of a somewhat ‘nervous’ disposition, you may be thinking this could be the start of a very slippery slope, where the supposed insatiable demand for mind-altering drugs will further undermine societal cohesion and damage lives. You will probably have at the back or even front of your mind worries about the perverse consequences and impacts that have flowed from the commercialisation of tobacco, alcohol and even some pharmaceutical products.  Look at the new problems we are seeing from the overprescribing of prescription drugs you will say.

In truth, as Sue Pryce book, ‘Fixing Drugs-The Politics of Drug Prohibition’  and my own Commission’s recent report,  ‘A Fresh Approach to Drugs’  (UK Drug Policy Commission www.ukdpc.org.uk ) show, there is no simple or silver bullet for fixing drug policy. It is not a ‘solvable’ problem but rather one where incremental steps to reduce harms and get people to behave more responsibly in their drug use behaviours are, probably, realistic goals. And as Sue and I discuss in the interview, there are still some very practical things that governments, politicians, the media, professionals and the public can do to help steer our country’s drug policy through a fast-changing and challenging world. Because ,as we are all too familiar with, psychoactive drugs now reach in to every nook and cranny of 21 century British life.