Alas Smith and Brown
Wednesday/07/May 2008 Filed in: Commentary
The lunacy that has been demonstrated this morning with regard to the classification of cannabis has clearly come about as a result of a real change in what we now view as the purpose of drug strategy in the UK.
Whereas once - back at the time of the 1995, 1998 and even 2002 drug strategies - the aim of strategy was clearly to pragmatically tackle the harms related to drug use, it is now the clear intention of this government, led in this respect by Jacqui Smith and Gordon Brown, to turn the clock back to a time when all you had to do was say "No Sir-ee", make sure you locked the bad guys up and everything would be fine and dandy.
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Tomorrow's Strategy Today
Monday/25/Feb 2008 Filed in: Commentary
The new drug strategy comes out on Wednesday - but how different will it be to the old one - and what will the reaction be across the field?
In truth, it may be less important what the strategy says than how we react to it. The time has come for a new approach - one that is not just about getting more and more money, but about prudence, co-operation and critique -
Read More...Dopes
Saturday/02/Feb 2008 Filed in: Commentary
Strong signals about reclassification may be morally reassuring, may improve Britain's reputation with those international bodies for whom the continuance of the war on drugs is a priority, may even convince people who'd already decided not to use cannabis that they were right in their decision, but will it stop people using the drug? Will it reduce the potential and actual harms of cannabis? Will it make it easier for us to deal with? Probably not. Read More...
How Was It For You - A Drug Policy Review of the Year (Part Two)
Friday/04/Jan 2008 Filed in: Info - Commentary
Part two of the best and worst of 2007 - including the National Drug Strategy Consultation, The Big Book of Drug Policy from the Conservatives, The Little Book of Legalisation from Transform Drug Policy Foundation and THAT Today programme interview ... Read More...
How Was It For You? - A Drug Policy Review of the Year (Part 1)
Saturday/29/Dec 2007 Filed in: Info - Commentary
Part one of a review of the high - and low - lights of the past year. Including the Pooled Treatment Budget increase that wasn't, capital investment in tier 4, the Harm Reduction Action Plan and the Drug Strategy Consultation plus much much more ribald and unbuttoned fun from the wacky world of drug policy .... part two next week.
(Thanks to The Daily Dose and Drink and Drugs News for their impeccably kept online archives - without them I would have had to make it all up ... then again, you couldn't really could you?)
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(Thanks to The Daily Dose and Drink and Drugs News for their impeccably kept online archives - without them I would have had to make it all up ... then again, you couldn't really could you?)
Read More...
Same Old Anorak - Local Government Indicators 2
Thursday/22/Nov 2007 Filed in: Info - Commentary
More on those pesky Local Government Indicators for those of you for whom the anorak is just a second skin...
To remind you, these are the indicators that will sit at the heart of the LAA, the CAA and the SCS (That's the Local Area Agreement, The Sustainable Communities Strategy and the Comprehensive Area Assessment - the divine troika of local partnership planning, measurement and delivery). Read More...
To remind you, these are the indicators that will sit at the heart of the LAA, the CAA and the SCS (That's the Local Area Agreement, The Sustainable Communities Strategy and the Comprehensive Area Assessment - the divine troika of local partnership planning, measurement and delivery). Read More...