Last week my BBC Radio 5Live documentary on cannabis was broadcast. If you want to listen, you can find it here.
I enjoyed the opportunity to review the decision I made in 2008 to reclassify cannabis from a Class C to the more serious Class B drug. David Blunkett, who had made the opposite decision ie to move cannabis from B to C in 2003 was generous and wise in talking about the nature of political decision-making in drugs policy. Professor David Nutt and I continued to disagree about whether scientific evidence stripped of political judgement should determine drug classification. Cannabis users, young people and frontline workers gave me a healthy input of reality when I asked them whether the classification change had impacted on their decision-making. The answer was a pretty resounding ‘no’.
But looking in detail at what has happened to drug use over the last few years is far from the depressing activity you might imagine. What is worrying is that a pretty positive picture is widely seen as a failure. In June 2011, a YouGov survey asked people how effective they thought the government’s approach to tackling illegal drugs was. Eleven per cent thought it was effective while 53 per cent thought it was ineffective.
Surveys, statistics and the independent UK Drugs Policy Commission who published their report this October tell a more positive story about drug use. While the UK has relatively high levels of problem drug use, the numbers have fallen since 2004-5 with the biggest falls in the 15-24-year-old age group, so fewer people are starting a life of drug dependency.
Record numbers of drug addicts in England are recovering from addiction, according to the latest figures released by the National Treatment Agency. Nearly 30,000 successfully completed their treatment in 2011-2, up from 27,969 the previous year and almost three times the level they were seven years ago (11,208). The data also reveals that nearly one-third of users in the last seven years successfully completed their treatment and did not return, which compares favourably to international recovery rates.
Cannabis use has fallen in recent years and the biggest decline has been among young people. Incidentally, it was falling before cannabis was reclassified from B-C by David Blunkett, and then continued to fall before and after I reclassified from C-B – more evidence that the classification system is marginal in affecting use.
There is one worrying statistic recently reported by the National Treatment Agency which is that, despite falling use, the number of cases seen by specialist services for primary cannabis use was up from 12,784 in 2010-11 to 13,200 this year. I’m sure that this is partly because education and awareness have been helped by government information through the Frank campaign and drugs education in schools and people are more likely to seek help with a problem. It’s also because the police are trying to take a ‘restorative’ approach to cannabis users in many areas by referring them to treatment rather than the criminal justice system. But it is also because the cannabis on the streets now is much more likely to be stronger skunk strains. It was this change, coupled with concern about mental health effects, which drove my decision in 2008. It certainly suggests to me that arguments for decriminalisation or legalisation are wrong at this time.
In fact, my conclusion from the programme is that in drugs policy we spend disproportionate energy and time arguing about the law. The change of classification prompted short-term discussion, raised the issue of increased harm from stronger skunk cannabis and, for some, created the moment that changed their lives
But in the end I don’t believe the reclassification to a Class B drug was responsible for the ongoing drop in cannabis use and from the people I’ve talked to in the programme, I know that it also caused confusion and dissent.
Was that worth the positive impacts of the change in law that I introduced? I’m no longer sure it was.
I don’t believe in decriminalisation or legalisation. But, knowing what I know now, I would resist the temptation to change the law to tackle the harms from cannabis. For politicians, the law is the tool which is closest to hand. My advice is to resist it and to focus on education, treatment and information which may make fewer headlines, but will have a greater long-term effect.
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Jacqui Smith is former home secretary, writes the Monday Politics column for Progress, and tweets @smithjj62
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