Category Archives: drug policy

One of the daily national newspapers which I take, recently carried what seems to me an attempted prohibitionist scare story about what it sees as the almost certain potential ‘bad’ consequences of illicit drug decriminalisation; it openly intends this as a warning to the Scottish Government which has enacted de facto decriminalisation since 2021—although contrarily,Continue reading “A prohibitionist warning about decriminalisation—but not the one intended.”

It’s been 2 years since the Scottish Government, via Dorothy Bain, the Lord Advocate, declared full subscription to a policy of de facto (as if) decriminalisation with regard to possession of ALL illicit drugs; until 2021, police were already diverting those in possession of Class B and C drugs (such as cannabis) from criminal charge,Continue reading “Regain your momentum—just ‘go for it’!”

‘Bad batches’. “3 die from anthrax-contaminated heroin.” “Lethal Ecstasy facsimile warning.” “Fake valium suspected of killing 7.” Get the drift? ‘Bad batches’ elicit calls for drug testing. A bit of history. Seems to me that there must always have been ‘bad batches’ occasionally roaming around the illicit drug marketplace, throughout the history of the illicitContinue reading “Let’s talk about drug testing.”

Fundamentally, it continues to address drug addiction primarily as a ‘health condition’ rather than what it really is…a behaviour—which can certainly lead to health conditions; this distinction is important in respect of the different outcomes potentially accruing. And for some time now, the SG has been treating drug addiction as a “..public health issue..” whichContinue reading “Scottish Government’s National Mission to save drug addicts doomed to mediocre results…because.. .”

An item in my weekly drug ‘stuff’ news feed informs that the charity Action on Smoking and Health (ASH) Scotland is now urging the Scottish Government to follow Canada by—in addition to our current graphic health warnings on cigarette packets—introducing further anti-tobacco warnings ON EACH INDIVIDUAL CIGARETTE! Canada begins this intervention from August this year;Continue reading “A Virtue-Signaling Step Too Far?”

My drug news update this week carries an item about a mother— whose daughter has recently died as a consequence of taking Ecstasy—now campaigning for drug legalisation as she believes that in a legalised and hence regulated drug market, her daughter would have had a better idea of what she was about to take (high-strengthContinue reading “Cannabis—only legalisation on the horizon?”

This morning, looking at my weekly feed on drug issues, noticed an article about Welsh police being given choice of whether or not to carry Naloxone. Said article describes ‘..in a nutshell’, Naloxone’s purpose. “..can reverse the effects of overdoses of drugs including heroin, fentanyl, and prescription painkillers..” (in overview, opioids) “…works by reversing theContinue reading “Frontline public services carrying Naloxone: voluntary…mandatory?”

That’s right. Drug addiction is not a disease that drug users get; rather, it’s behaviour that users do. It is not directly driven by users’ circumstances; rather, indirectly driven by users’ reactions to circumstances. In the first instance, drug addicts are fully in control of themselves—just like you and me; fully in control of whetherContinue reading “Towards REALLY curbing drug deaths…realise ONE thing…drug addiction is not a disease…it’s changeable behaviour.”

Was going to post on this…but discovered that my previous on the matter still suffices. (see This vaping thing—again.) Though I’ll just add a question: did policymakers seriously think, when they endorsed that smokers of ordinary tobacco cigarettes, should be encouraged to switch their habit to e-cigs, that e-cig manufacturers would not exploit the versatilityContinue reading “Vape hysteria re-surfacing again…but.. .”

Last year, I questioned the viability of HAT as a way out of opioid addiction (Can HAT(Heroin Assisted Therapy) ever be more than state-supported heroin addiction?; The Heroin Assisted Therapy…). Is it even practically useful as a life stabiliser for those few clients deemed suitable because they allegedly cannot tolerate the likes of methadone? Personally, IContinue reading “HAT (Heroin Assisted Therapy) revisited.”