ISSUES
: Drugs
Chapter 2: UK drug laws
30
use. People go on buying their blood-
stained substances and enriching
some of the nastiest people on the
planet. A few more police go to work
hunting traffickers. Users are no longer
persecuted. The mafias remain.
In 2006, the Italian journalist Roberto
Saviano published
Gomorrah
, an
expose, in the proper sense, of the
Neapolitan Camorra. He has been
forced to live since under armed guard
in secret locations. Nevertheless, this
summer he published
Zero Zero Zero
,
a title derived from a traffickers’ joke
name for pure cocaine. The book is
horrifying, but not just for the routine,
fantastical violence. In Saviano’s
account, the cartels’ trade has
corrupted the world.
UNODC will mention “vast sums”
that “compromise” economies, buy
politicians and rig elections. Saviano
will tell you that drugs money courses
through the world’s financial systems,
that it touches all of us, and that it
alone kept banking afloat in parts of
the Americas during the great crash.
He calls it narco-capitalism.
The journalist has dedicated his life to
opposing the mafias. Nevertheless, in
the last pages of
Zero Zero Zero
he
writes: “As terrible as it may seem,
total legalisation may be the only
answer. A horrendous response,
horrible perhaps, agonising. But the
only one that can stop everything.”
That strikes me as true. By one
calculation, the United States alone
had spent $150 billion on the drugs
war by 2010. Any victories? Or just
the news that Barack Obama has
been commuting sentences on
dozens of hapless souls locked away
for life because of recreational use?
According to the Federal Bureau of
Prisons, as of 26 September, 48.4
per cent of the entire US inmate
population, 93,821 individuals, had
been locked up for drug offences.
Some war; some victory.
So legalise the lot. Those who want
to use drugs will go on using drugs.
In a country with common sense, like
Ireland, they might get the help they
need. But Saviano is right. Only one
thing will put the traffickers out of
business and end this hopeless war.
8 November 2015
Ö
Ö
The above information is reprinted
with kind permission from
Herald
Scotland
. Please visit www.
heraldscotland.com for further
information.
© Herald & Times Group 2016
Legal highs: which drugs will be banned
in the UK?
The sale of laughing gas is to be outlawed in the latest government crackdown on
legal highs. Which other drugs will be affected by the ban?
By Jessica Elgot
W
hether it’s a high that’s
been around since the
17th century, or a chemical
cocktail created last weekend,
successive governments have found
it difficult to get a grip on legal highs.
Ban one thing then tweak the
compound slightly and the revamped
drug becomes legal again. This is
because the Misuse of Drugs Act
1971 classifies drugs as illegal by their
chemical compounds.
Two new legal highs are identified in
Europe every week, the European
Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug
Addiction says.
Ministers will publish a draft law
on Friday to ban psychoactive
substances, which would technically
cover everything from coffee and
cigarettes to cider, though caffeine,
alcohol and nicotine are exempt, as
are food and medicinal products.
The scale of the ban means that drugs
used in Britain for centuries, such as
laughing gas, would become illegal,
as well as any new mix mimicking the
effects of illegal drugs.
These are some of the drugs ‘head
shops’ will no longer stock:
Laughing gas
Once the preserve of 15-year-olds
watching Wheatus at the Reading
festival, nitrous oxide has enjoyed
a renaissance in recent years –
despite the risk that it can cause
unconsciousness
from
oxygen
depravation.
The
Daily Mail
even published an
article claiming the use of “hippy
crack” had become so widespread,
middle-class women were dragging
on balloons in their living rooms.
Poppers
Poppers are a group of chemicals
called alkyl nitrates which have
become so mainstream that those
shiny little bottles continue to be sold
at late-night petrol stations.
As well as giving you what the national
drug education service, FRANK,
diplomatically terms “enhanced
sexual experiences”, huffing poppers
gives users a sudden massive head
rush. They can also cause your blood
pressure to plummet to a dangerous
level and can kill if swallowed.
Salvia
Salvia, a plant closely related to sage
and mint, is sold as ‘herbal ecstasy’
and can be chewed, rolled up and
smoked or inhaled through a bong.
Once the preserve of shamans in the
Mazatec region of southern Mexico,
its popularity has surged recently
after footage of people taking it swept
YouTube.
Like any hallucinogen, there’s
believed to be a risk salvia can trigger
psychotic episodes. Or you could just
end up looking as daft as the people
on YouTube.
