Politicians are scrambling around thinking of more and more authoritarian measures to "fight crime" -- no clampdown on freedom is too onerous, 42 days, ID cards, stop-and-search, universal DNA database, phone taps, anonymous witnesses ...
In just the last decade, this Labour government has breached all of the rights contained in the US Bill of Rights -- the first ten amendments to the US constitution -- all of which were originally outlined in English/British law: Magna Carta, the 1689 Bill of Rights, the Act of Settlement.
The excuse for all these breaches has been to "protect against crime and terrorism."
In fact they do not protect us from anything and all our governments, going back to the 1960s have deliberately created crime by making drugs illegal. Until 1969, registered heroin addicts could get free heroin from their GP. As a result, there was no market for illegal heroin in Britain and there were only a few drug dealers, who catered for popstars and the very wealthy who would not register because of adverse publicity.
There were only 2,000 heroin addicts in Britain when the law changed.
In 1969 the Wilson government made prescription of heroin to addicts by GPs illegal (under presssure from the Nixon administration in the US). Within two weeks, black market heroin was being smuggled into the country and the profession of "drug dealer" was born. Drug dealers then had an incentive to get customers addicted.
Now Britain has between 800,000 and 1,000,000 addicts -- as a deliberate act of government policy. But not only does heroin bugger up the lives of addicts, it buggers up their neighbourhoods and lives of law-abiding citizens whose stolen property pays for the drugs. Over 80% of property crime is committed by addicts raising money for a fix.
It also buggers up Afghanistan because the Taliban earns $100 million (a gross under-estimate) a year from the opium trade. And, therefore, it funds terrorism in the UK and USA and western targets everywhere. In the streets of Britain and the US the huge amount of drug money washing through inner cities is not used to improve the lot of the residents, but to buy guns and to enforce loyalty to ruthless criminal gangs.
Over the years we have had wave after wave of increasingly violent gangs that control the drug trade: first the Italians; then the home-grown like the Kray's; then the IRA; then the Jamaican Yardie gangs; now the worst of the lot -- Russian, Kosovan and other eastern European gangs who will kill you as soon as look at you. Young black and white kids are used to sell to locals and go armed with guns and knives.
None of the ridiculous new laws proposed by the government or the Tories will have the slightest effect on crime -- there's far too much money involved.
So the best possible crime prevention programme would be to revert to the pre-1969 laws. Get every heroin addict registered and receiving free heroin. Which has these clear (and proven) advantages:
At home:
- The cost will be far, far, less than those of medical complications of using dirty heroin
- Every addict would be in contact with health services so they can get into treatment
- Addicts won't have to committ crime to fund their habit
- There will be an 80% reduction in crime
- No more blackmarket heroin imports so no heroin available on the streets
- No drug dealers to offer drugs to kids
- Existing drug gangs will fall apart without money
In Afghanistan:
- Buy the poppy crop direct from farmers
- Get farmers on our side
- Cut out the Taliban middle-man
- Cut off funding for the Taliban
Our current politicians are far to cowardly to even consider this for a second -- even though they all know it's true. It will take a formidable character to do what's necessary but the rewards will be rapid and immense.
Sadly there is no politician -- even on the horizon -- with the guts and intelligence to do what is needed.
Why? This may sound like a whacko conspiracy theory but it is thought that the international drug trade is worth as much as the oil trade. Banks, politicians, judges, police, huge corporations are all involved in laundering all this money -- and are all tainted by endemic corruption.
If we stopped the international drug trade maybe our whole world trade and banking systems would simply fall apart.
For a detailed discussion of the "skunk cannabis hysteria" see:
New Labour’s schizo policy on cannabis
The government is happier punishing cannabis users than admitting it cannot inspire youth to do something more interesting than get stoned. -- At Spiked-online
http://www.spiked-online.com/index.php?/site/article/5101/
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